UDISE+ 2025–26: Measuring India’s Progress in School Education

Context

The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L) has released the UDISE+ 2025–26 Report, offering a comprehensive, data-based picture of India’s school education sector.

India’s School Education Landscape: Assessing Progress Through UDISE+

What does the UDISE+ 2025–26 Report reveal?

• The report provides a detailed assessment of India’s school education system, covering 14.67 lakh schools, 1.03 crore teachers and 24.72 crore students.

Major Trends Highlighted by the Report

• Stronger Teacher Availability: India’s overall Pupil–Teacher Ratio (PTR) is 24:1, better than the 30:1 benchmark under NEP 2020. It stands at 10:1 at the Foundational stage and 21:1 at the Secondary stage.
• Access to Schooling Improving: The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is 89.6% at the Middle stage and 71.7% at the Secondary stage, reflecting wider access while highlighting the need to improve participation at higher levels.
• Retention and Educational Continuity: Retention rates are 98.5% at Foundational, 91.1% at Preparatory, 83.7% at Middle and 51.9% at Secondary levels. The transition rate to Secondary education has reached 88.3%.
• Dropout Levels Showing a Downward Trend: Dropout rates have declined to 1.8% at Preparatory and 7% at Secondary level. However, the Middle-stage dropout rate has marginally risen to 3.6%.
• More Efficient School Utilisation: The number of single-teacher schools declined by nearly 3% to 1,00,843, while zero-enrolment schools dropped by 29% to 5,663, suggesting better utilisation of educational resources.
• Progress in Gender and Social Representation: Girls account for 48.4% of total enrolment, while women constitute 54.9% of the teaching workforce. Students belonging to SC and ST communities together represent 27.7% of enrolment.
• Expansion of Basic and Digital Facilities: Around 95% of schools have electricity, 99.5% have access to safe drinking water, 98.5% have girls’ toilets and 90.5% have libraries. Computer availability has risen to 69.9%, while 67.4% of schools have internet connectivity.

Why the UDISE+ Findings Matter

• Data-Driven Education Planning: UDISE+ provides detailed school-level information to support policy formulation, resource allocation and monitoring of NEP 2020 implementation.
• Advancing Equity and Participation: Improved retention, female participation and access to essential infrastructure indicate progress towards a more inclusive school education system.
• Strengthening Digital Learning: Growing access to computers and internet facilities can support technology-enabled learning, digital literacy and wider educational opportunities.
• Building India’s Human Capital: Better teacher availability, improved infrastructure and wider educational participation can contribute to stronger learning outcomes and long-term human capital development.

Source : DD News