According to the data from the Ministry of Education enrolment in schools has reduced tremendously in India as of the most recent record. As per latest UDISE+ report, the total enrolment at the school level is decreased more than crore (10 million) from the previous report of 2018-19. This report presents the enrolment decline from 26.02 Cr. students in the academic year 2018-19 to 24.8 Cr. students in 2023-24.
As one of the major cause given for this decline is the shift in data gathering techniques. Earlier, it accumulated data school-wise which means that each school would provide the count of the students. However, from 2022-23 onwards they started collecting the data student wise and for this the information was sought at student level including student name, address of student, parents name and Aadhaar etc. This change aimed to eliminate "ghost" students—those who might have been enrolled in both government and private schools to avail government benefits.
Regional Impact
Contrary to these statistics, enrolment has not decrease in equal ratio in any part of the country. Bihar, for instance, has declined by 35.65 lakh from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Uttar Pradesh comes next with a reduction of 28.26 lakh. Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh among others also have sharply reduced their rates.
Implications and Government response
As for the declined enrolment, Ministry of Education pointed out that this decrease does not mean more children out of school. However it is a more accurate picture since new techniques of data gathering have been used to arrive at it. The ministry has also contacted states with significant changes to confirm these findings. It is envisaged that this new system will assist in proper identification of beneficiary for different educational products like the Samagra Shiksha, PM-POSHAN midday meals and scholarships.
Broader Context
This decline in enrolment has come at a time when the Indian education system is working through several hitches, for instance, the effects induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. School closure and shift to online classes might have harmed enrolment due to closure of classes as a result of the pandemic. However, there is some evidence that social influences, economical issues and migration process could also be involved in producing the effect.
Moving Forward
The government has said that adopting the new method of data collection will result in massive cost cutting in the future since unnecessary duplication will be avoided, and the proposed benefits will get to the rightful beneficiaries. While implementing its goals, the ministry is also focusing on increasing the quality of education and on giving all children an opportunity to receive education.
Key Highlights of the UDISE+ report 2023-24
The latest UDISE+ report for the academic year 2023-24 is published by the Ministry of Education in India and it gives us the complete account of the school education system of the country.
- Enrolment Figures: The total enrolment of schools in India is 248 million for the academic session 2023-24. This is down from 25.18 crore (251.8 million) in 2022-23 and from 26.02 crore (260.2 million) in 2018-19. The average overall enrolment for the past five years figures to 26.36 crore (263.6 million).
- Gender Distribution: Males are 51.9% of the total enrolments while female are 48.1%. This paints a picture of fairly equal gender parity in the enrolment of school age children all over the region.
- Minority Representation: The student enrolment status Minority: Total enrolment is increased by 20%. Of these 79.6% are Muslims, 10% are Christians, 6.9% are Sikhs and 2.2% are Buddhists, 1.3% are Jains and 0.1% are Parsis.
- Social Categories: The enrolment position of SC is 4.47 crore (44.7 million) and OBC is 11.2 crore (112 million). All these statistics have been slightly reduced from the prior year figures.
- Dropout Rates: Drop-out rates by different levels of education are also shown in the report; 3.7 % of children drop out at the primary level, 5.2% at the middle level and 10.9% at the secondary level. Bihar states have the highest dropout rate, especially at the secondary level where 20.86% of children drop out of school.
- School Infrastructure: A larger majority of the schools in India fulfil such basic standards of infrastructure as availability of electricity and toilets for girls and boys. Still, the improvements are not impressive enough where functional desktops and internet are even now absent, and computers and other internet facilities are present only in 57.2% schools and internet facilities in 53.9% schools. Drinking water is available in 98.3% of schools, while 89% have libraries and 82% have playgrounds.
- Regional Variations: this trend is not the same everywhere across the country; it has taken its gradual toll. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have recorded relatively low numbers compared to the previous year while the decline was also seen in Maharashtra and West Bengal.
Main reasons for decrease
The UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) report for the academic year 2023-24 has brought to light a concerning trend: a general trend of a low enrolment register across schools in India. This report aims to analyze the main causes behind such decline as well as understand problems and issues surrounding Indian education system.
Transition in Data Collection Techniques
The focus and the change of method in collecting the school enrolment statistics is one of the main causes of decline. Before this, the aggregation was done on a school basis – or in other words, each school gave the total number of students. However, from 2022-23 batch, they also adopted the student-wise data collection system. This new method was a bit complicated for each student’s data such as name, address, parent’s name as well as Aadhaar number.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has affected school enrolment in very many ways. Schools were closed for an extended period and there was a completely unexpected transition to remote learning. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many families including those that come from less privileged economic status, experienced challenges in acquiring gadgets and terminals plus consistent internet connectivity. Hence, some children quit school, and never went to school in the next class again. Further, the closure of schools due to COVID-19 and associated economic losses pushed some families to focus on the basic needs for the children.
Socio-Economic Factors
Culture and economy are the key conventions determined to influence school enrolment. Poverty, child labor, migration as well as early motherhood are key determinant of education among children. Thus, due to poor economic status many children in the region can barely fund their education needs let alone be in school hence dropout is rife for children coming from economically disadvantaged background because they have to work as the bread winners. Families, because of the seasonal migration for work, have to leave their children out of school and often, the child does not enrol in another school in the new location.
Infrastructure and Resources
Infrastructure in schools and availability of such fuzzy resources in schools is a key determinant to admission rates. Currently the study reveals that over 91% of schools have electricity and gender specific toilets and some other specifications that are very basic but still advanced facilities such as functional computer and internet connections remain a major factor of concern. Unfortunately, lack of these resources is definitely going to make it difficult to retain students especially given the fact that technology is now an integral part of learning.
Governments’ Steps and Actions
The Ministry of Education has cultivated on correct data acquisition to address issues pertaining to; provision of benefits to target beneficiaries. This is because the new method of data collection employs student-wisely and dismisses the creation of “ghost students. Though this means a positive change with regards to the administrative aspect, it can easily explain the low enrolment rates being recorded. There is an urgent need for the implementation of both Samagra Shiksha and PM-POSHAN in order to have serious intervention with regards enrolment issues. The only way the roll can be reversed is by insuring that these schemes are implemented and able to reach the targeted beneficiaries which seem to be the challenge.
When was UDISE launched?
India has implemented Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) during the academic year 2012-13 launched by Ministry of Education. This was developed in order to provide a complete and coordinated system for the compilation and systematic control over data pertaining to schooling in the country. UDISE was a great improvement to face the challenges of planning, monitoring and administration of education system in India.
Objectives of UDISE
The main aim of UDISE is therefore to establish a sound and accurate database that is informative for decision making for educational policies, programs and resources. Launched to collect data from schools in each of the Indian states, UDISE was expected to enhance the effectiveness of the schools system.
Key Initiatives and Features
- Data Collection and Management: UDISE was developed with the purpose of obtaining information on all the recognized schools in India from government as well as private sector. The collected data included students’ enrolment data, teachers’ certification, facilities of school, etc. This all-inclusive data gathered aimed at making the government to have an all-round understanding of the education sector.
- Tracking and Monitoring: In this case, UDISE had one of the strengths of providing regular tracking and monitoring of school and students’ performance. The importance of UDISE was that it offered actual time regular data that helped in identifying facets that needed enhancement and letting changes be made. This feature was particularly important in monitoring the rate of drop out, absenteeism and performance among students.
- School Infrastructure and Facilities: UDISE was used in a significant way in the evaluation of infrastructure and facility indicators in schools. Concerning the headquarter facilities, data on electricity, water supply and sanitation, library were also obtained and analysed. In the case of missing infrastructure this information helped to distribute resources and determine which schools need additional facilities the most.
- Teacher Information: In terms of teachers, the system gathers sufficient and specific data about qualification, training, and experience. These were used in the discovery of lacking areas in teacher distribution, as well as in designing and predicting training courses. Like other, UDISE sought to increase the quality of education by making certain that qualified teachers were in all schools.
- Educational Equity: In an endeavour to establish educational equity, UDISE sought information about the States’ performance with special reference to marginalized and disadvantaged sections of the society namely SCs, STs, and Children with Disability. From this information effective strategies were developed and put into practice for the policy of the Government to consider these groups in ensuring they received quality education.
- Policy Formulation and Planning: UDISE data was useful in policy formulation, and development and planning of policies in the educational sector. The value of the system was in the analyses of the results of the programs already in place to improve the design of new programs that would be more relevant to the students and the schools.