Uttarakhand has slipped down by four notches in the School Education Quality Index (SEQI) released by National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. The SEQI evaluates the performance of State and Union Territories in the school education sector. The index placed Kerala on the top with a score 82.17 while with a score of 30.65, Jharkhand is at the bottom of this index.
The index placed Uttarakhand at 14th place this year with a score of 48.15. The State was ranked at 10th place last year with score of 49.48. Haryana made a spectacular jump in the table from eighth position last year to third this year. Gujarat also increased its position by two notches by getting placed at fourth place this year.
In the category of small states, Tripura maintained its number one position while Goa and Manipur occupy second and third place respectively. In the category of Union Territories (UT), Chandigarh with a score of 73.87 points was ranked first while Delhi (69.89) was placed at second position. Among the large states, Rajasthan made a quantum jump by scoring 8 percent more than the previous score.
The concept of SEQI was mooted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and NITI Aayog to access the performance of state on various parameters.
The SEQI is divided into two categories of Outcome and governance processes and structural reforms. The outcome includes learning, infrastructure and facility access and equity.
The dismal performance of the state in the all important SEOI of NITI Aayog is big setback to the State Government’s initiative to increase the quality of education in Uttarakhand. The State has 20590 primary and upper primary schools in Government sector alone. Apart from them the state has 3,434 secondary schools. The State has 7,50,917 students in primary and upper primary schools while in the secondary school, the student enrollment is 1,62,100.
The State Government is continuously increasing the budgetary allocation in the education sector. This year, out of total budget of Rs 48,663.90 crores, a budget of Rs 48,663.90 crore for the Financial Year, an allocation of Rs 7,642.63 crore is made for school education.