School and higher education

Enrolment, dropout and the surveys that measure schools and colleges, and the policy built on them.

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StandardPrelims and Mains7 Jul 2026

The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) is the Ministry of Education's annual census of every school, filled in by the school itself: enrolment, teachers, infrastructure and, since it moved to student level records, dropout, retention and transition rates.
The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) is the Ministry's annual survey of universities, colleges and stand alone institutions, which report their enrolment, faculty and programmes; its headline is the Gross Enrolment Ratio, the share of the 18 to 23 population enrolled in higher education.
The National Education Policy, 2020 set a higher education Gross Enrolment Ratio of 50 per cent by 2035 and a pupil teacher ratio of 30 to 1 or better in schools.

On 7 July 2026 the Ministry released UDISE+ 2025-26 and on 8 July the AISHE reports for 2022-23 and 2023-24 together, the higher education survey having fallen two years behind.
Schools: enrolment in Classes I to XII stood at about 23.23 crore, down 0.25 per cent on 2024-25, with the fall at the primary stage and growth at the secondary and higher secondary stages; the number of schools fell to 14,66,682; teachers rose to 1,02,73,020; the pupil teacher ratio is 10 at the foundational stage and 21 at the secondary.
Dropout fell at the preparatory stage to 1.8 per cent and at the secondary stage to 7.0 per cent, from 8.7 and 13.8 in 2022-23, but rose slightly at the middle stage to 3.6 per cent. Retention to the end of the secondary stage is 51.9 per cent. Secondary Gross Enrolment Ratio rose to 71.7 per cent.
Infrastructure: 95 per cent of schools have electricity, 67.4 per cent internet and 69.9 per cent computers; zero enrolment schools fell to 5,663 and single teacher schools to 1,00,843. Girls are 48.4 per cent of enrolment and women 54.9 per cent of teachers.
Higher education: enrolment reached 4.50 crore in 2023-24, from 3.42 crore in 2014-15; the Gross Enrolment Ratio is 30.0, from 23.7; the female ratio is 31.2, above the male, and the gender parity index 1.08 for the seventh year; the Scheduled Caste ratio is 27.8 and the Scheduled Tribe 22.8; women are 44 per cent of STEM enrolment; faculty number 17.32 lakh.

School dropout rate, per cent (UDISE+)	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26
Preparatory stage	8.7	3.7	2.3	1.8
Middle stage	8.1	5.2	3.5	3.6
Secondary stage	13.8	10.9	8.2	7.0

Higher education (AISHE)	2014-15	2023-24
Enrolment	3.42 crore	4.50 crore
Gross Enrolment Ratio	23.7	30.0 (female 31.2; gender parity index 1.08)
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe ratios	18.9 and 13.5	27.8 and 22.8
Women in STEM enrolment	38.4 per cent	44 per cent
NEP 2020 target		50 per cent by 2035

The school data show a system past its peak in numbers: enrolment is flat or falling because the cohort is smaller, which is the demographic transition arriving in the classroom, while the secondary stage, where dropout was always worst, is holding more children than before.
The higher education ratio has risen about six points in a decade; reaching 50 by 2035 needs it to rise twenty in the next nine years, at a time when the 18 to 23 population itself is beginning to shrink, which makes the target easier in arithmetic and harder in institutions.
Half the children who enter school do not finish the secondary stage; that, not enrolment, is now the number that matters.

Samagra Shiksha (2018)

The Union's umbrella scheme for school education from pre primary to Class XII, which merged Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the secondary education mission and teacher education
It funds the infrastructure and teachers UDISE+ counts.

PM SHRI (2022)

About 14,500 existing government schools to be upgraded as exemplars of the National Education Policy, on a 60:40 Centre State share.

PM POSHAN (2021, the renamed mid day meal)

A hot cooked meal to children in Classes I to VIII in government and aided schools, extended to the pre primary.

Prelims: UDISE+ 2025-26 and AISHE 2023-24 released in July 2026; higher education Gross Enrolment Ratio 30.0, female 31.2, gender parity index 1.08; school enrolment about 23.23 crore; secondary dropout 7.0 per cent; NEP 2020's targets of 50 per cent GER by 2035 and a 30 to 1 pupil teacher ratio.
Mains: why retention, not enrolment, is now the measure of a school system, and what a shrinking cohort means for the 2035 target.

Show the questions

Mains 2026 GS2: Should education be treated primarily as a welfare obligation of the state or as a strategic investment for building a globally competitive, knowledge-driven nation? Critically evaluate.

Sources

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.

The paper leak law made stricter: the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Act, 2026 · on Transparency and the right to information
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