India Registers Drop In School Enrollment Figures, Official Data Reveals

New Delhi: Enrollment in schools across India fell by 37 lakh in 2023-24 as compared to the previous year, Ministry of Education's UDISE data showed.

The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus is a data aggregation platform maintained by the education ministry to collate school education data from across the country.

Number of Girl Students Dropped by 16 Lakh 

The number of enrolled students in 2022-23 was 25.17 crore, the figures for 2023–24 stood at 24.80 crore. The number of girl students dropped by 16 lakh during the period, while the number of boy students fell by 21 lakh. 

The representation of minorities in total enrolment stood at around 20 per cent. Among the minorities, 79.6 per cent were Muslims, 10 per cent Christians, 6.9 per cent Sikhs, 2.2 per cent Buddhists, 1.3 per cent Jains, and 0.1 per cent Parsis.

Category Wise Data

At the national level, 26.9 per cent students registered in UDISE+ were from the general category, 18 per cent from Scheduled Caste, 9.9 per cent from Scheduled Tribe, and 45.2 per cent from the Other Backward Class category.

Officials, however, clarified that the data observed some real changes from the previous years, as this exercise of maintaining a separate student base is totally different, unique and incomparable to 2021-22 or prior years.

The student-wise data helps identify 'ghost students', and aids in transferring benefits to the deserving students, resulting in savings to government and good governance by way of better expenditure management, they said.

What is Gross Enrollment Ratio 

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) compares the enrolment in a specific level of education to the population of the age-group, which is most age appropriate for that level of education.

The report also noted that the availability of schools, teachers and students enrolled in different states is different.

"In states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, the percentage of schools available is more than the percentage of students enrolled, implying underutilisation of available schools. Whereas in states like Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Bihar, the percentage of available schools is significantly less as compared to enrolled students, indicating better utilisation of infrastructure," the report stated. 

(With inputs from PTI)