Meghalaya has emerged as the lowest-performing state in the Ministry of Education’s latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) for 2023-24, scoring just 417.9 points and landing in the lowest band of the nationwide assessment. The PGI 2.0 report, which evaluates states and Union Territories across six key domains—including learning outcomes, infrastructure, and access—found that Chandigarh leads all regions with a score of 703, yet no state or UT reached the top four performance bands, highlighting a significant scope for improvement across India’s school education system. While 24 states and UTs improved their scores this year, others including Bihar, Jharkhand, and Karnataka saw declines, underscoring ongoing challenges in educational quality and equity.