Lakshadweep tops, Jharkhand is last

Three Union Territories and three Northeastern states are in the top 10 of the All-India Educational Development Index 2012-13 released Thursday by the Human Resource Development Ministry and the National University of Educational Planning & Administration (NUEPA).

Led by Lakshadweep for a second year in a row, the EDI ranking shows Puducherry on the second spot and Tamil Nadu at third. Sikkim, Manipur and Mizoram, the three Northeastern states, clinched 4th, 9th and 10th place respectively. Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, and Assam continue to slide down and are at the bottom with Jharkhand hitting the lowest spot at 35.

This composite Educational Development Index 2012-13 is based on the data collected from across 1.5 million schools, from 662 districts spread over 35 states and UTs. Parameters like access, infrastructure, student-teacher ratio, teacher training besides outcome vis-a-vis general enrolment ratio, SC/ST/OBC and Muslim enrolment, drop out rate etc have been used to develop this index.