CM hails education milestone as Jharkhand climbs to ‘Akankshi 1’

The office of chief minister Hemant Soren on Sunday hailed the state’s school education performance highlighting that Jharkhand has been upgraded to Akankshi 1 from Akankshi 2 grade in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2024-25 released by the union education ministry this month. According to the CM office, the improvement is a result of sustained efforts by the state government to strengthen school education across Jharkhand. The PGI evaluates school education performance across states, union territories (UTs), and districts using over 70 indicators divided into six core domains–outcomes, governance, access, infrastructure, equity, and teacher training. States and UTs are evaluated out of 1,000 points and graded on a 10-level scale— Utkarsh, Uttam-1, Uttam- 2, Uttam-3, Prachesta-1, Prachesta-2, Prachesta-3, Akankshi-1, Akankshi-2 and Akankshi-3. Taking to X, the CM office noted that Jharkhand has improved its score by 29 points in the PGI 2024- 25 and has achieved the “Akankshi-1” (Aspirational-1) grade.

According to the PGI report, Jharkhand’s total score increased to 531.1 out of 1,000 in PGI 2024-25 from 502.2 in PGI 2023-24, reflecting progress in several key educational indicators. Despite this improvement, the state continues to trail 13 other states that are placed in higher grading categories. Regarding performances of the districts, the PGI report indicates that all districts in the state are above Akankshi category. “The fact that no district remains in the Akankshi (Aspirational) category is evidence of the significant transformation taking place in the education sector at the grassroots level in the state,” the CM office said. A total of 11 districts improved their overall grading, with no district witnessing a decline.

While East Singhbhum and Bokaro were promoted to Prachesta-1, Khunti, Gumla, Latehar, Palamu, Garhwa, Chatra, Jamtara, Dumka and Godda jumped were elevated to Prachesta-2 from Prachesta-3 category. Districts including Ranchi, Simdega, Deoghar, Ramgarh, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Giridih, Koderma, Lohardaga, West Singhbhum, Pakur, and Seraikela-Kharsawan remained in the Prachesta-2 category, while Sahibganj continued in Prachesta-3. According to the CM office, the improvement is a result of sustained efforts by the state government to strengthen educational access, infrastructure, equity, and teacher training across Jharkhand. While Jharkhand has shown strong performance in educational access, equity, and teacher education, challenges remain in improving learning outcomes and governance processes