Unprecedented drop: School enrollment falls by 1 crore since 2018-19, officials point to data cleanup!
India’s school enrolment has seen a historic drop, with a decrease of over a crore students in 2022-23 and 2023-24, compared to the previous four years. The enrolment had consistently stayed above 26 crore from 2018-19 to 2021-22, but the latest data shows a fall to 25.17 crore in 2022-23 and 24.8 crore in 2023-24, marking a 6% decline. Officials attribute this drop to improvements in data collection methods aimed at eliminating duplicate entries.
The UDISE+ report, prepared by the Ministry of Education, relies on data from states on various parameters like enrolment, teacher numbers, and schools. The new data collection method, implemented in 2022-23, requires schools to provide detailed, student-specific information, such as names, parent details, and Aadhaar numbers, rather than just reporting overall class numbers. This change helps identify children who may have been enrolled in both government and private schools, leading to multiple entries. According to a senior official, this method also enables better targeting for benefit transfers under schemes like Samagra Shiksha, PM POSHAN, and National Scholarships, potentially saving the government money in the long run.
However, this revision of data suggests that previous enrolment figures were inflated. The Ministry of Education has asked states with significant drops in enrolment to explain the decline. Bihar saw the largest fall, with a drop of 35.65 lakh students in 2023-24 compared to 2018-19, followed by Uttar Pradesh (28.26 lakh) and Maharashtra (18.55 lakh). Some states, like Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Telangana, recorded an increase in enrolment.
In Uttar Pradesh, officials explained that “de-duplication” helped remove duplicate entries, such as children enrolled in both government and private schools for scholarships. Similarly, Maharashtra officials noted that technical issues with Aadhaar linking might have led to some genuine students being excluded from the enrolment count. They expect the enrolment numbers to improve once these issues are resolved.
The new enrolment data reveals a drop in both government and private school enrolment. In 2023-24, government school enrolment stood at 12.74 crore, a decrease from the four-year average of 13.5 crore. Private school enrolment also dropped, though less significantly, to around 9 crore from an average of 9.34 crore. The largest decline was seen in government schools, with a 5.59% drop compared to a 3.67% drop in private schools.
The enrolment decline was slightly higher for boys than for girls. In 2023-24, 12.87 crore boys were enrolled, marking a 6.04% decrease compared to the four-year average. Girls’ enrolment dropped to 11.93 crore, a 5.75% decrease from the average of 12.66 crore. The decline was evident across primary, upper primary, and secondary education levels, with a notable increase in enrolment at the pre-primary and higher secondary levels.
In conclusion, the data from 2022-23 and 2023-24 reveals significant changes in India’s school enrolment, primarily due to the implementation of more accurate data collection methods. While the drop in enrolment may initially appear concerning, officials argue that it reflects improved accuracy in tracking actual enrolments and could lead to more efficient use of government resources in the future.
