THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has emerged on top among 20 large states in terms of quality of school education, followed by Rajasthan and Karnataka, while the most-populous Uttar Pradesh was ranked at the bottom position during 2016-17, according to a report released by the Niti Aayog.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan said that this is recognition for revolutionary changes made by the state government in the field of education. Minister for Education C. Raveendranath said that this is a proof that public education protection schemes are effectively marching forward. He also expressed his gratitude to all those who were part of the scheme.

Chief Minister’s Office told that the activities to improve the quality of schools to international standards is underway. CMO said that projects of 2037.91 crores via KIIFB are getting implemented.

The overall performance score for the large states ranged from 76.6 per cent for Kerala to 36.4 per cent for Uttar Pradesh.

The report, titled 'The Success of Our Schools-School Education Quality Index' (SEQI) and jointly released by the Niti Aayog, Ministry of Human Resource Development and the World Bank, alongside sectoral experts, is based on indexing of states and Union Territories on the learning outcomes for school-going children.

SEQI, which used 2016-17 as the reference year and 2015-16 as the base year, was developed to evaluate the performance of states and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.

Among eight smaller states, Manipur, Tripura and Goa bagged the top-three positions, respectively, followed by Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.

Of the seven UTs, Chandigarh came at the top position, followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Puducherry, Daman & Diu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

The index, prepared on the basis of 30 indicators, was divided into two broad categories -- outcomes that consisted of learning, access, infrastructure & facilities, and equity outcomes; and governance processes aiding outcomes.

Among the small states, the overall performance varied from 68.8 per cent for Manipur to 24.6 per cent for Arunachal Pradesh. In UTs, the overall performance scored from 82.9 per cent for Chandigarh to 31.9 per cent for Lakshadweep.

Out of the 20 large states, 18 improved their overall performance scores between 2015-16 and 2016-17. Five of these states -- Haryana, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Gujarat -- showed high rates of improvement, with increases of 18.5, 16.8, 13.7, 12.4 and 10.6 percentage points, respectively.

The report highlighted that amid challenges of improving learning outcomes, educational access and infrastructure are continuing for states and UTs and require more focus and investments.