Government think-tank Niti Aayog's School Education Quality Index (SEQI) released on Monday showed a huge disparity in the performance of the States in school education across the country. Kerala bagged the top spot with 76.6 per cent and while Uttar Pradesh with 36.4 per cent scored the lowest for 2016-17.

Among the small States, Manipur (68.8 per cent) emerged as the top performer while Arunachal Pradesh (24.6 per cent) came last in the category.  

The index was developed to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.

Rajasthan bagged the second position among the large States with 72 per cent, followed by Karnataka with 70 per cent and Andhra Pradesh-69 per cent respectively.

The overall performance of the States was measured using two parameters- outcomes and governance process aiding outcomes.

Scores of the outcomes category were primarily driven by learning outcomes. On the other hand, governance process aiding outcomes category included indicators such as student and teacher attendance system, transparency in teacher recruitment to name a few.

The data for the index was collected for three categories: large states, small states and Union Territories (UTs).

Among Union Territories, Chandigarh (82.9 per cent) stood at the top position while Lakshadweep ranked lowest (31.9 per cent). 

Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog said: "The objective of the index is to bring an outcomes focus to education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections and policy interventions."

Meanwhile, West Bengal did not participate in the Niti Aayog exercise.

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