Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Kerala occupy the highest grade A++ in 2019-20 in the field of school education according to the Performance Grading Index (PGI) released on Sunday by the education ministry.

The grading index which analyses the performance of states on 70 parameters has put Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the A+ category.

Punjab has scored the maximum points for governance and management; Bihar and Meghalaya have scored the lowest in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Odisha have shown marked improvements in the infrastructure domain between 2019-20 and 2018-19, indicating that the states and union territories have started to take action for improving their infrastructure and facilities, albeit by varying extent.

Thirteen states and UTs have shown improvement by 10 per cent in the domain of infrastructure and facilities, the report said.

While 19 states and UTs have shown improvement by 10 per cent or more in the domain of governance process Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal have improved by at least 20 per cent, it said.

"While it is common knowledge that shortage of teachers, principals and administrative staff, lack of regular supervision and inspection, inadequate training of the teachers, timely availability of finances (all of which are captured in the governance and management domain) are some of the factors plaguing the education system in the country, it is for the first time that there is a reliable tool that corroborates this," the report said.

"Through the PGI, the shortfalls can be measured objectively and regularly. This is crucial for taking necessary steps to eliminate the gaps," it added.

The PGI for states and union territories was first published in 2019 with reference year 2017-18. The PGI for 2019-20, released on Sunday, is the third publication in this series. 

The PGI exercise envisages that the index would propel states and UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will that will bring about much-desired optimal education outcomes.

The index helps the states and UTs to pinpoint the gaps and accordingly prioritise areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level.

According to the index, most of the states and UTs have improved their grade in PGI 2019-20 compared to earlier years.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have improved overall PGI score by 10 per cent -- 100 or more points.

Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Odisha have shown more than 10 per cent improvement in the domain of equity, it said.