Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday, 22 May 2026, claimed that targeted education reforms introduced after the Congress government took office have propelled the state to 6th place nationally in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) and 5th place in qualitative education — a sharp rise from what he described as a slide to 21st place under the previous administration in 2021.

Context

In a post on X, CM Sukhu wrote in Hindi: 'वर्ष 2021 में प्रदेश में डबल इंजन की सरकार थी। उस समय प्रदेश की गुणात्मक शिक्षा फिसलकर देश में 21वें स्थान पर पहुंच गई थी।' ['In 2021, the state had a double-engine government. At that time, the qualitative education of the state had slipped to 21st place in the country.'] The phrase 'double-engine government' is a reference commonly used for states where the same party governs both at the state and central level — in Himachal Pradesh's case, the BJP held both positions until the Congress won the state assembly elections in December 2022.

CM Sukhu went on to say that his government immediately began reforming the education system upon taking office and introduced English-medium instruction from Class 1 in government schools. He attributed the improved PGI rankings directly to these interventions.

Policy Backdrop

The Performance Grading Index is an annual framework published by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, that has been in operation since 2019. It grades all states and Union Territories on a range of school education parameters, including learning outcomes, access, infrastructure, equity, and governance. The index is widely used by state governments as a benchmark to compare education quality across the country.

Himachal Pradesh has historically maintained strong literacy rates relative to its population size, but improving learning outcomes — particularly in government schools serving remote hill communities — has remained a persistent policy challenge. The National Education Policy 2020 also placed emphasis on measurable learning outcomes and flexible medium of instruction in early grades, providing a broader national framework within which state-level interventions like the English-medium push fit.

Stakeholders and Impact

The most direct beneficiaries of the claimed improvements are students enrolled in Himachal Pradesh's government school system, along with teachers who have had to adapt to revised curricula and English-medium instruction norms from the primary level. Parents in rural and semi-urban areas, who have traditionally sent children to private schools for English-medium education, stand to gain if the quality of state schooling continues to improve.

The political dimension is equally significant. CM Sukhu's post frames the PGI improvement as a direct rebuke of the previous BJP-led state government, feeding into a broader Congress narrative about governance quality in Himachal Pradesh. The BJP has not responded publicly to this specific claim as of the time of publication.

What's Next

The next annual PGI report from the Ministry of Education will be closely watched to see whether Himachal Pradesh sustains or improves its ranking. State-level developments to monitor include the pace of expansion of English-medium sections across districts, teacher recruitment and training drives aligned with the new curriculum, and any independent assessments of learning outcomes at the primary level. The Congress government in Shimla is likely to continue highlighting PGI progress as an electoral asset ahead of future state polls.