Top 10 Best States for Education in India: Facts and More

India has come a long way with visionary education policies, reforms, acts, and a remarkable stride in online education after the pandemic (with online schools and post-secondary institutions). We have indeed made some significant advancements in academia. However, a lot can still be improved in our education system.

As per the constitution of India, education falls under the concurrent subject list. This means that both the center and the state are meaningful partners in the planning and decision-making process. In this article, we will explore the performance of our Indian states. and answer questions like:

Which are the best cities in India for education?

What makes these best cities of India surpass the others?

Let’s discover some statistics as per the Indian government.

Niti Aayog’s SEQI report (The School Education Quality Index) ranks 20 large states, 8 small states, and 7 Union Territories as follows:

Top 10 best states for education with their scores:

Ranking	States	Scores
1	Kerala	76.63
2	Rajasthan	72.86
3	Karnataka	69.57
4	Andhra Pradesh	67.88
5	Gujarat	61.95
6	Assam	60.29
7	Maharashtra	57.43
8	Tamil Nadu	56.37
9	Himachal Pradesh	55.32
10	Uttarakhand	53.34

Ranking	Other States	Scores
11	Haryana	50.53
12	Odisha	48.36
13	Chhattisgarh	46.55
14	Telangana	46.43
15	Madhya Pradesh	45.56
16	Jharkhand	43.91
17	Bihar	42.05
18	Punjab	41.14
19	Jammu & Kashmir	41.06
20	Uttar Pradesh	36.42

Small states category: Best city for education in India

Small States	Scores
Manipur	68.76
Tripura	64.5
Goa	58.37
Mizoram	49.81
Nagaland	48.65
Sikkim	42.27
Meghalaya	39.08
Arunachal Pradesh	24.64

UNION TERRITORIES	Scores
Chandigarh	82.9
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	58.99
Delhi	48.96
Puducherry	42.98
Daman & Diu	41.13
Andaman and Nicobar lslands	40.28
Lakshadweep	30.88

Which are the Best cities of India with Successful Educational Reforms

By far, the government statistics reveal a picture of the states and the top 10 best educational city in India. But there are some other rankings (other than the top 10 educated city in India) that explain the journey of these states better.

The India Today released an interesting story in December 2022. It categorized some best education city in India basis their performance in education as per the following parameters (and their improvement on specific aspects):

Total expenditure of education department (10-14 years)
Literacy rates (%)
Ratio of girls to boys enrollment at the primary and middle school levels (%)
Pupil-teacher ratio (all institutions)
Drop-out rates (primary, and middle levels)
Number of schools in age group 10 to 14 years
Number of colleges in the age group 15 to 19 years
Number of institutes of national importance
Number of central universities
Number of higher educational institutions
National law universities

As per the above-mentioned parameters states and UTs were ranked as per their scores out of 200. The chart below shows the best state for education in India as per these parameters.

Rank	Big States	Scores out of 200
1	Himachal Pradesh	153.7
2	Kerala	135.9
3	Uttarakhand	134.7
4	Tamil Nadu	124.6
5	Karnataka	115.1
6	Maharashtra	113.8
7	Punjab	112.6
8	Haryana	97.5
9	Chhattisgarh	88.2
10	Assam	87.8
11	Odisha	86.2
12	Gujarat	85.8
13	Andhra Pradesh	80.1
14	Rajasthan	75.7
15	West Bengal	73.8
16	Telangana	73.7
17	Madhya Pradesh	67.5
18	Uttar Pradesh	60.5
19	Jharkhand	47.9
20	Bihar	39

Small States	Scores out of 200
Goa	164
Mizoram	146.7
Puducherry	146.2
Sikkim	127.5
Manipur	124.1
Nagaland	117
Meghalaya	113.6
Arunachal Pradesh	113.4
Delhi	107.8
Tripura	104.1

How Do the Educational Hubs in India Set an Example?

Big State Category – Best Education State in India – Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a striking example of consistent improvement by an education hub in India. During the BJP government’s tenure, HP invested 16% of the state budget only for education. It created superlative hostels and free educational institutions called Atal Adarsh Vidya Kendras (a total of 15).

For infrastructure, HP boasts of equipping all government schools with internet connectivity, video conferencing facilities, etc.

Small State Category – Best State for Education in India- Goa

Goa tops the chart under the best-performing small state category. It is noteworthy that Goa is one of the best cities in India for education. This state invested in an extensive infrastructure for education for students under the age brackets of 10 to 19 years. It served a massive count of a million students with 125 schools between 10 to 14 years beautifully. Similarly, it has 60 colleges for 1 lakh youngsters between 15 to 19 years. Other than this, Goa has an excellent net enrolment ratio for classes 1 to 10 (90.5%). It also has a track record of the lowest number of dropouts at the secondary level (5.6%).

Education hub in India with a Remarkable Improvement – Rajasthan

Rajasthan has not been one of the top 10 best educational city in India. However, under the leadership of CM Mr. Ashok Gehlot, this state battled with age-old challenges like drop-out rates and overall school enrollment rates. To reduce the sinister impact of the pandemic, the government of Rajasthan promoted online exams (similar to online school exams), and also hired 45000 teachers. This state has set an example of consistent improvement with innovative technology to overcome barriers. And is focused on bridging learning gaps. Rajasthan is finally back in the race to be the best education city in India.

How Do our Policymakers Help States to be Educational Hubs in India?

SATH-E Project – Role Model States for the School Education Sector

We have already discussed that Education is a concurrent subject. And both the central government and states collaborate to reach common goals. SATH-E or the Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital-Education is one such project that focuses on improving the underperforming states through the examples laid by the states with some great educational reforms.

In the first phase of this project (in 2017), the government selected Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand for the enhancement programs (the best education state in India).

Let’s take a look at the achievements of these role models (examples of the best city for education in India):

Dakshta Unnayan Programme in Madhya Pradesh – In a span of 2 years, 30% of students improved from the lower-level foundational literacy to the highest learning levels (grades 3 to 8).

Ujjwal-Utthan Odisha – 10 to 15% average improvement in learning outcomes.

Gyan Setu Jharkhand- 12% improvement across competencies through the learning enhancement program.

Shaping eLearning Industry to Boost Student Participation

Being a land of diversity, India’s education sector battles with many issues such as class participation for active learning. 73% of students suffer from issues like speech anxiety. This hampers their ability to participate in offline classes actively. Post the pandemic, the shift to online learning (online schooling) has helped students overcome their fears related to traditional classes. Our government focuses on digital initiatives like DIKSHA, and SWAYAM for K12 level. With these ongoing initiatives, online education is all set to transform school, university, and tuition culture for over 71 million students across the nation.

Final Thoughts

These ongoing projects and initiatives are a great help for states to enter the list of top 10 educated city in India with initiatives and best practices adopted by other states.

Let’s hope that the new education policy of k2020 further drives the goals of education with a superlative center-state partnership. Meanwhile, as stakeholders, let’s also pledge to leave no stone unturned and make our state the best city for education in India!

Thanks for Reading!

Frequently Asked Questions

Which city has the best education in India?
Kerala, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, etc. have the best education in India.
Which is the best city to study in India?
Kerala, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat are some of the best cities of India (states).
Which is the educational capital of India (educational hubs in India)?
Goa, Mizoram, Puducherry, Punjab, etc. are some of the education hub in India
Which city in India has the most colleges?
Bengaluru has the most number of colleges in India.
Which state is no. 1 in education in India?
Kerala consistently stands out with it’s performance and is one of the best state for education in India.
Which are the top 10 most educated cities in India?
Top 10 cities are:

S. No	States
1	Kerala
2	Rajasthan
3	Karnataka
4	Andhra Pradesh
5	Gujarat
6	Assam
7	Maharashtra
8	Tamil Nadu
9	Himachal Pradesh
10	Uttarakhand