Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday, 30 May 2026, credited his government's school-education reforms for a sharp rise in the state's national rankings, claiming Himachal Pradesh has moved from 21st to 5th place in quality education and from 13th to 6th place in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) since the Congress government took office in December 2022.

Context

Posting in Hindi on X, CM Sukhu said the education system under the previous government was in a 'worrying state' — ('शिक्षा व्यवस्था की स्थिति चिंताजनक थी') — noting that a Class 5 student struggled to read a Class 2 textbook. He said the state had slipped to 21st position nationally in quality education at that point. The remarks are a direct contrast with the Bharatiya Janata Party administration that preceded the Congress government.

The Performance Grading Index is an annual benchmarking exercise by the Union Ministry of Education, published since 2017, that evaluates state school systems on learning outcomes, access, infrastructure, and governance. A higher rank signals stronger overall school-education performance.

Policy Backdrop

The Sukhu government introduced English-medium instruction from Class 1 in government schools and adopted the CBSE curriculum pattern — two reforms that align Himachal's public schools more closely with private-school standards and the national board's framework. These steps form part of a wider trend across Indian states that have turned to English-medium and CBSE affiliation to improve learning metrics and compete more effectively on national indices.

The National Education Policy 2020 emphasised foundational literacy and numeracy in early grades, giving states a policy mandate to address exactly the kind of learning deficit — a Class 5 child unable to read a Class 2 text — that CM Sukhu described. Himachal's stated reforms target that foundational gap directly.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are students enrolled in Himachal Pradesh's government school network, which serves a large share of children from rural and lower-income households across the hill state. Teachers, too, have had to adapt to the CBSE pattern and English-medium delivery, implying significant professional development demands.

Parents who previously opted for private schools for English-medium education may now reconsider government schools, potentially affecting enrolment trends. The claimed ranking improvements, if sustained in independently published PGI reports, would also influence how the state attracts central education funding and is perceived in inter-state comparisons.

What's Next

The credibility of CM Sukhu's claims will be tested when the Ministry of Education publishes its next official PGI report, which will provide independently verified rankings for all states. Independent learning-outcome surveys — such as those conducted by civil-society organisations tracking foundational skills — will offer a further check on whether classroom realities match the index movements.

With assembly elections on the horizon in multiple states, Himachal Pradesh's education turnaround narrative is likely to become a template the Congress cites as proof of governance delivery in state-level campaigns.