State records biggest improvement in the country after sustained focus on teacher welfare, infrastructure and governance reforms
Shillong, July 8: The Meghalaya government on Wednesday said a series of reforms, including resolving long-pending teacher issues, rationalising schools, upgrading infrastructure and strengthening teacher training, had driven the state’s rise from the lowest grade to Akanshi-1 for the first time.
According to the Ministry of Education’s PGI 2.0 Report for 2025-26, Meghalaya improved its score from 448 in 2024-25 to 525.71, registering a two-grade jump from Akanshi-3 to Akanshi-1—the biggest improvement among all states and Union Territories.
In a statement, the Education Department described the achievement as a historic milestone, noting that Meghalaya had never moved above the lowest PGI category since the national school education assessment framework was introduced.
The government said the improvement was the result of sustained reforms over the past eight years, particularly accelerated during the last three years, focusing on governance, school infrastructure, teacher welfare and evidence-based planning.
One of the key reforms highlighted was the resolution of long-pending teacher service issues through extensive consultations with stakeholders. The government said the introduction of the Structured Pay Framework (SPF) brought multiple categories of fixed-pay teachers under a transparent salary structure with annual increments linked to experience and contributory provident fund benefits.
Officials said addressing service-related concerns had improved teacher morale, professional commitment and classroom performance.
The state also cited its large-scale school rationalisation exercise, which reduced the number of schools from 14,641 in 2024-25 to 11,443 in 2025-26 by clustering and optimising educational resources, resulting in better school management and more efficient deployment of teachers.
The government further credited the Chief Minister’s IMPACT programme for improving SSLC examination results and pointed to extensive infrastructure upgrades under Mission Education, Samagra Shiksha and the Asian Development Bank-funded Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya Project.
Teacher capacity building also received a boost through the establishment of the Meghalaya Teacher Training Academy (MTTA), while digital governance initiatives strengthened school monitoring systems and improved the quality of UDISE+ data.
The Education Department said focused interventions in foundational literacy and numeracy, inclusive education, school leadership and governance had also contributed to the state’s improved performance.
Following the previous PGI report, the department reviewed every performance indicator, identified weak areas through district-level analysis, and implemented standard operating procedures, capacity-building programmes, and targeted action plans to improve compliance and reporting.
The state has witnessed a steady rise in its PGI score over four assessment cycles—from 401.62 in 2022-23 to 417.90 in 2023-24, 448 in 2024-25 and 525.71 in 2025-26—an increase of more than 124 points, or nearly 31 per cent, in three years.
Despite the achievement, the government acknowledged that challenges remain.
It said the latest PGI report identifies learning outcomes and governance processes as priority areas requiring further improvement and that the state would continue investing in academic support, teacher development, infrastructure and governance reforms to achieve higher grades in future assessments.
The Education Department thanked teachers, school heads, students, parents, School Management Committees, district education officials, Samagra Shiksha Mission, SEMAM and partner organisations for contributing to what it described as a landmark turnaround in Meghalaya’s school education system.
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