New Delhi: A government report reveals a decline of 87 lakh students in government schools across the country in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, with Bihar reporting the highest drop at 28.9 lakh. In contrast, private schools have seen an increase in enrolment, indicating a trend of reverse migration—students who shifted from private to public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic are now returning.
The latest Unified District Information System for Education (UIDSE+) report, released Tuesday, highlights an overall dip in school enrolments as well across the country, falling from 25.18 crore in 2022-23 to 24.8 crore in 2023-24—a six-year low. This data includes students enrolled in government, government-aided, private, and other schools.
The report also highlighted an overall decline in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), which measures the percentage of the school-age population enrolled at a specific education level, from 94.2 percent to 91 percent. The government under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to achieve a 100 percent GER by 2030.
The report highlights a significant shift in school enrolment trends. Enrolment in government schools dropped from 13.62 crore in 2022-23 to 12.74 crore in 2023-24, while private school enrolments rose from 8.4 crore to 9 crore during the same period.
This marks the first post-pandemic instance of a decline in government school enrolment alongside an increase in private school enrolment.
During the 2020-21 academic year, nearly 40 lakh students moved from private to government schools due to the pandemic—a trend that persists, with private schools generally reporting fewer enrolments.
As ThePrint reported in October, the Union Ministry of Education flagged a decline in enrolments in government schools across some states and UTs in 2023-24. Officials attributed the drop to “reverse migration” post-pandemic, with students who had moved to government schools due to financial constraints now returning to private institutions. Some states also reported efforts to remove “ghost students” from their records.
The UDISE+ report also reveals a sharp decline in enrolment across various education levels. In primary classes (1st to 5th), enrolment dropped from 11.24 crore in 2022-23 to 10.78 crore in 2023-24 across all categories—a decrease of 45.8 lakh students.
At the secondary level (classes 9 and 10), enrolment fell from 3.79 crore to 3.69 crore, a reduction of 10.7 lakh. Similarly, at the higher secondary level (classes 11 and 12), enrolment declined from 2.78 crore to 2.71 crore.
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According to the UIDSE+ report, various states are witnessing a decline in government school enrolments. Bihar tops the list with a decline of 28.9 lakh, followed by Uttar Pradesh (21.4 lakh), Rajasthan (8.68 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (4.23 lakh), Karnataka (3.14 lakh), Telangana (2.29 lakh) and Haryana (2.3 lakh). Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh reported a decline of 2 lakh each, and Jharkhand 99,251, among others.
Officials in Education Departments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar told ThePrint that there has been a trend of students moving back to cities with their parents after normalcy returned post the pandemic.
“We saw an increase of 20-25 percent in student numbers in government schools as many migrant workers and people, who had lost their jobs, returned to their hometowns. However, as conditions normalised in 2023, many of these families returned to cities, leading to a decline in government school enrolment in the state,” said an official from the basic education department in Uttar Pradesh, requesting anonymity. The official reiterated that state government measures to eliminate students, who enrolled in government schools only for benefits, from their rolls also resulted in an overall decrease in enrolment.
Similarly, an official from the Bihar education department, who wished to remain anonymous, told ThePrint, “We’ve observed a reverse migration trend, with many families who had moved to rural areas during the pandemic now returning to urban centers, which has led to a decline in enrolments in government schools here.”
However, the Union education ministry cited a change in methodology as the reason.
“Individual student wise data reflects realistic and more accurate picture of education system which is attempted for the first time at the national level a departure from school wise consolidated data till 2021-22 and hence the UDISE+ 2022-23 data is not strictly comparable with the previous reports on various educational indicators like GER, NER, dropout rates etc.,” the ministry said in the report.
“Through, unique student and teacher identity, credentials of individuals (student/teacher) in the education ecosystem can be established more accurately leading to weeding out of duplicate or ghost entries resulting into precise identification of beneficiaries for benefit transfers of Samagra Shiksha scheme, PM POSHAN scheme, National Scholarship scheme etc. can bring significant savings to government in future years,” it added.
According to the report, one of the fundamental objectives of any education system is to ensure that every child is enrolled in and regularly attending school.
However, a significant concern arises when there is an imbalance between the number of schools, the availability of teachers, and the actual number of students enrolled across different states. A stark contrast emerges when comparing states with adequate school infrastructure against those with high student enrolments relative to available schools.
For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan, the number of schools far exceeds the number of students enrolled. This highlights a situation which may cause “underutilization of available schools leading to suboptimal economy to scale”.
On the other hand, the UIDSE+ report highlighted that many states including Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Bihar are facing a different challenge, where the number of schools is significantly lower compared to the number of enrolled students. This indicates a situation where schools are overburdened, with more students per school than the system can effectively manage.
The report states that availability of schools at all levels is a key factor influencing demand in the education system.
While primary schools have expanded significantly since the RTE, secondary and higher secondary schools have not kept pace, risking high dropout rates at higher levels. For example, West Bengal has 79 percent primary schools but only 3.5 percent secondary schools, while Chandigarh has 45 percent higher secondary schools and just 6.1 percent primary schools.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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