• Source:JND
HighLights
  1. India now has over 1.03 crore school teachers.
  2. Student count reaches 24.72 crore across 14.67 lakh schools.
  3. New PGI 2.0 and PGI-D assess state and district education.

New PGI 2.0 And District Index Reports: India's school education system now has more than 1.03 crore teachers for the first time, alongside nearly 24.72 crore students spread across 14.67 lakh schools, according to fresh government data. The figures emerge from two new assessments released by the Union Ministry of Education- the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for States and Union Territories, and the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) 2025-26, both built on data from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) and other government platforms.

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How Are States Assessed?

The PGI framework avoids ranking individual states, instead sorting them into performance bands so more than one state or UT can share a category. Developed by the Department of School Education and Literacy, the index is scored out of 1,000 points across 70 indicators, split between two broad heads,  Outcome and Governance and Management, and spread across six domains covering learning quality, access, infrastructure, equity, governance, and teacher training.

Data is drawn from UDISE+, the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, PM POSHAN, PRABANDH, and Vidyanjali portals.

A New Index For Districts:

The ministry has extended this grading exercise down to the district level through the PGI-D, assessing every district on a common set of indicators focused sharply on outcomes. The district index is scored out of 600 points across its own 70 indicators, grouped into categories such as outcomes, classroom transaction, infrastructure, school safety, and digital learning.

Together, these span 11 broader domains, from teacher availability and professional development to fund utilisation, attendance monitoring, and school leadership.

What The Data Draws On?

Both indices lean heavily on UDISE+ as their backbone, supplemented by other targeted government platforms. The state-level PGI additionally pulls from PM POSHAN and Vidyanjali data, while the district-level PGI-D relies on UDISE+, PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, and PRABANDH.

This layered data approach is meant to give a granular, evidence-based read on how schools are actually functioning, rather than relying on self-reported claims alone.

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Why It Matters For Policymakers?

With over 14.67 lakh schools and students from widely varying socio-economic backgrounds, the two indices are designed to give policymakers a clearer, data-backed picture of India's school education system- right down to the district level.

By pairing a state-level governance lens with a district-level outcomes focus, the government aims to pinpoint gaps more precisely and target interventions where they're most needed.

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