NEW DELHI: Kerala ranks first and Bihar brings up the rear in the first attempt by the Government to prepare a Composite Education Development Index to track the progress of States towards providing universal elementary education.

The report has been prepared by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA).

While the index does not spring many surprises, West Bengal has been pushed to the bottom with a ranking of 32 in a list of 35 States and Union Territories.

Rajasthan, MP

out of BIMARU

In fact, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — which together with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were given the acronym BIMARU in the 1980s for performing badly on all developmental fronts — have broken free from this club to move up the ladder.

Rajasthan ranks 19 and Madhya Pradesh 29. The worst performers are Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

Among the top rankers are Kerala, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram and Lakshadweep.

Based on performance

Now that NUEPA has taken this first tentative step towards ranking States on the basis of their performance at the primary and upper primary levels vis-à-vis access, infrastructure, teachers and outcomes, plans are on the anvil to make this an annual exercise to facilitate a more targeted approach in educational planning.

Also, NUEPA has plans to rank districts similarly.

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