SHILLONG, JUL 8: Meghalaya has achieved its highest-ever improvement in the Performance Grading Index, moving directly from Akanshi III to Akanshi I in the 2025-2026 rankings released by the Ministry of Education, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said on Wednesday.
Calling it a landmark moment, Rymbui said no state had ever jumped two grades in a single year since the PGI was introduced.
“I am very glad to inform you that in the latest PGI ranking released by the Ministry of Education, education in Meghalaya has moved from Akanshi III to Akanshi I,” Rymbui said.
He recalled that in 2024-2025, Meghalaya was the only state in Akanshi III and had faced criticism for years for being at the bottom of the national rankings.
“Since 2018, and as the Chief Minister has repeatedly stated, education has been our top priority. We have been working consistently to achieve quality education in Meghalaya,” he said.
“While we saw improvement in our scores in the last few years, it was not reflected in the ranking earlier due to several factors.”
Sharing the data, Rymbui said the state’s PGI score had risen steadily from 401.62 in 2022-2023, to 417.90 in 2023-2024, to 448 in 2024-2025, and now to 525.71 in 2025-2026.
“Meghalaya is the fastest-improving state in the country under the PGI framework, with an overall increase of 124.09 points in the last four years, a growth of 31 percent,” he said. With this, Meghalaya now joins 13 other states in Akanshi I, including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Tripura, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister attributed the progress to collective efforts under the leadership of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
“This result reflects the combined work of the Chief Minister, officers of the Education Department at the secretariat, directorate, district and sub-divisional levels, DSEOs, SDSEOs, BRCs, BRPs, teachers, school managing committees, and parents. It is the collective responsibility of everyone that has led to this achievement,” he said.
Rymbui, however, stressed that the work is far from over.
“Have we done it all? No. This is a work in progress. Education is dynamic and keeps evolving, so I urge all stakeholders to continue working together. We will keep progressing,” he said.
He outlined several key interventions undertaken since 2018.
On governance and infrastructure, he said the government had increased the education budget from Rs 650 crore to Rs 840 crore and is working toward an estimated Rs 2000 crore needed to upgrade school facilities. Infrastructure development is being carried out in phases, with additional support from SSA, the Asian Development Bank, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The government has also been providing solar power, toilets, and other amenities to schools.
On July 2, the Chief Minister launched ‘She Thrive’ to support girl students.
On teachers, Rymbui said the government had made requisite qualifications mandatory since 2018 and established the Meghalaya Teachers Training Academy for continuous training and retraining.
A structured pay framework has also been introduced to ensure job security and enable teachers to perform better.
Addressing equity and access, he said the number of schools had been rationalized from 14,000 to 12,000 through mergers, without compromising accessibility.
He added that issues such as zero enrolment and schools with too few teachers were being addressed.
On learning outcomes, Rymbui noted that the secondary pass percentage had improved to over 90 percent following the launch of CM IMPACT, compared to 54-55 percent earlier.
The government has also introduced supplementary examinations and allowed students who dropped out in the last five years to reappear.
All government secondary schools have been upgraded to higher secondary level, and new RMSA secondary and higher secondary schools have been set up where eligible.
The Minister flagged Science and Mathematics as areas needing focused attention, particularly in East Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, and other districts.
“Unless students enjoy Maths and Science, they will not be able to grasp the subjects properly. We are working on new approaches to address this fear,” he said.
He also highlighted the state’s Community Skill Learning programme, approved by the Cabinet on January 16, 2025, which has received national recognition.
Concluding, Rymbui said the PGI is meant to help states assess their position and improve year after year.
“People have said Meghalaya is always at the bottom. We admit that, but we also know we are doing important work. I credit all our officers for their continuous efforts, which are now showing results,” he said.
In a statement, the education department said the government attributed the gains to sustained reforms over the past eight years, with focused interventions in the last three years.
Key initiatives highlighted include:The introduction of a Structured Pay Framework (SPF) for teachers, which consolidated fixed-pay categories into a single pay structure linked to experience, with annual increments and contributory provident fund.
The department said this addressed long-pending service issues and improved teacher motivation.
A massive rationalisation of schools to improve efficiency, reducing the total number of schools from 14,641 in 2024-25 to 11,443 in 2025-26 through clustering.
The launch of CM IMPACT, which the government said contributed to a significant improvement in SSLC results. Infrastructure upgrades were undertaken under Mission Education, Samagra Shiksha, and the ADB-funded Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya Project.Other measures included the establishment of the Meghalaya Teacher Training Academy (MTTA), expansion of digital governance and UDISE+ data quality, and focused work on foundational literacy and numeracy, inclusive education and school leadership.
Where Meghalaya gained most Domain-wise data shows the sharpest improvement in Governance Processes, which more than doubled from 40.5 to 85.6. Infrastructure & Facilities also saw a significant rise from 62.1 to 77.8. Teacher Education & Training and Access improved to 57.5 and 49.1 respectively.
Equity remained the state’s strongest domain at 208.5. Learning Outcomes & Quality rose from 31.6 to 47.2 and held steady.
Following the last PGI report, the department said it undertook an indicator-wise review, district-level analysis, regular monitoring meetings and targeted action plans to address weak areas, which strengthened compliance and reporting.Road ahead
The department said the achievement was encouraging but “not the destination.” The latest report identifies learning outcomes and governance processes as areas needing further work. It reiterated its commitment to higher PGI grades through continued investment in teachers, infrastructure, academic support and governance.
“The Government of Meghalaya expresses its gratitude to teachers, school heads, students, parents, School Management Committees, District School Education Officers, Directorates, Samagra Shiksha Mission, SEMAM, and every stakeholder whose collective efforts have contributed to this milestone,” the department stated.
