Schools poor in digital learning

Schools poor in digital learning

Context:

• The Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2019-20 shows that schools across India performed poorly under the category of digital learning, which threw up the lowest scores compared to the other parameters which were considered while creating the index.

The Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D)

• As India entered the pandemic year, students in around 61 per cent districts of the country had very little exposure to digital learning due to limited availability of computers, Internet facilities and teachers trained to handle technological tools in schools, according to a Ministry of Education report released.
• In the index, as many as 180 districts scored less than 10 per cent on digital learning, 146 districts scored 11 to 20 per cent, while 125 districts had scores between 21 and 30 per cent.
• Rajasthan’s Sikar is the top performer, followed by Jhunjhunu and Jaipur in the Union government’s index for performance of the school education system at the district level.
• Utkarsh’ category is for districts with score between 81-90%, followed by ‘Ati-Uttam’ (71-80%), ‘Uttam’ (61- 70%), ‘Prachesta-I’ (51-60%), ‘Prachesta-II’ (41-50%) and ‘Pracheshta III’ (31-40%).The lowest grade in PGI-D is called ‘Akanshi-3’ which is for scores up to 10% of the to- tal points.
• The report also underlines the clear rural-urban divide in the area of digital learning.
• The district-wise performance on digital learning was drawn up based on the number of schools with computers/laptops, Internet facility,  student-to-computer ratio and percentage of teachers trained to use and teach through computers.
• The Centre had released the state-wise PGI index for the year 2019-20 in June 2021. Chandigarh and the states of Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala were the best performers in the index.
• The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the changes required in our existing system in terms of the adoption of digital learning as part of mainstream learning to continue education at home.
• This necessitated a need for a domain on digital learning in PGI-D, which is not there in state PGI.

Performance Grading Index

• The PGI is a tool to provide insights on the status of school education in States and UTs including key levers that drive their performance and critical areas for improvement.