New Delhi: School enrolments across India declined in 2024-25, largely driven by a significant 11.46-lakh drop in the number of boys, according to a new government report released Thursday.
The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data, released by the Union Ministry of Education for the academic year 2024–25, shows that overall school enrolments across the country fell from 24.8 crore in 2023-24 to 24.68 crore in 2024-25.
The data shows that while the number of girls enrolled increased slightly by 32,925—from 11.93 crore to 11.933 crore—the number of boys dropped significantly by 11.46 lakh from 12.87 crore to 12.76 crore.
At the primary level, from classes 1 to 5, the number of boys enrolled fell from 5.62 crore to 5.43 crore, a decline of about 19.2 lakh students.
Government officials attributed the decline in overall enrolment primarily to falling birth rates, but experts said lower birth rates impacted both genders. They added that the recent increase in girls’ enrolment may reflect the clearing of a backlog rather than a demographic decline.
Population Foundation of India (PFI) executive director Poonam Muttreja said that birth rates are uneven across states.
“In some places, the decline is sharper. For example, Kerala, which has one of the lowest fertility rates in the country, now faces very low enrolment in some schools, and a number of small centres and schools with very few children have been closed or merged. Overall, though, the trend is clear: birth rates are falling across the board.”
On improvement in girls’ enrolment, she said, “The gender gap in school enrolment has narrowed significantly over the past decade, largely due to targeted social benefit schemes. Conditional cash transfers, free bicycles, separate toilets and other girl-focused incentives have all contributed to this progress.”
“From a policy perspective, we can expect girls’ enrolment to remain relatively resilient because the environment has been supportive of this trend. The sharper decline we see among boys’ enrolment reflects broader demographic changes and improved data accuracy, not exclusion of boys from the system,” she said.
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Enrolments vary across states
The data also shows improvement across several states. In Uttar Pradesh, female enrolment increased from 1.96 crore to 2.02 crore; in Bihar, it rose from 1.04 crore to 1.05 crore; and in Haryana, it went up from 25.52 lakh to 26.60 lakh.
But in some states, female enrollment has declined. For instance, in West Bengal, it dropped from 90.31 lakh to 85.62 lakh; in Rajasthan, from 78.82 lakh to 77.07 lakh; in Madhya Pradesh, from 73.39 lakh to 72.84 lakh; and in Maharashtra, from 1.014 crore to 1.013 crore.
The data also shows an increase in the proportion of female teachers in schools from 53.33 percent in 2023–24 to 54.17 percent in 2024–25. Over the decade, the shift has been significant—data shows it was 45.8 percent in 2014–15.
“This marks a positive shift towards gender balance in the education sector and reflects ongoing efforts to promote women’s participation in the teaching profession. The growing presence of female teachers can have a significant impact on creating inclusive, supportive, and gender-sensitive learning environments across all levels of schooling,” the ministry said.
Imbalance between number of schools & students
The report highlights variations in the number of schools as well as the student-to-school ratio across states.
The percentage of available schools exceeds the percentage of enrolled students in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. This suggests underutilisation of schools, leading to poor economies of scale.
In contrast, Punjab, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Bihar and Kerala have significantly fewer schools relative to the number of enrolled students, resulting in a higher student-to-school ratio.
The report also emphasised that having the right mix of schools—such as the proportion of senior secondary schools compared with primary schools—is a key factor in the education system that largely influences demand.
“Though a large number of the then primary schools have been established post RTE, the commensurate increase in schools at secondary and higher secondary level have not come up. This poses the risk of large-scale dropout of students at the higher classes,” the report said.
The Right to Education (RTE) Act, enacted in 2009, guarantees free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 in India.
For example, West Bengal has 79.3 percent foundational and preparatory schools but only 11.6 percent secondary schools, whereas in Chandigarh, 82.1 percent of schools are secondary, with just 5.3 percent foundational and preparatory schools.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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