Enrolment in Indian schools dropped by 37 lakh in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, according to data from the Ministry of Education's Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus. This platform aggregates school education data from across the country.

In 2022-23, the number of enrolled students stood at 25.17 crore, which decreased to 24.80 crore in 2023-24. During this period, enrolment of girl students fell by 16 lakh, while boy students saw a decline of 21 lakh. Minority students accounted for 20 per cent of total enrolment, with 79.6 per cent being Muslims, 10 per cent Christians, 6.9 per cent Sikhs, 2.2 per cent Buddhists, 1.3 per cent Jains, and 0.1 per cent Parsis.

At the national level, 26.9 per cent of students belonged to the General category, 18 per cent to Scheduled Castes, 9.9 per cent to Scheduled Tribes, and 45.2 per cent to Other Backward Classes.

In 2023-24, UDISE+ collected student-wise data, including Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis, to ensure data uniqueness. Over 19.7 crore students provided their Aadhaar details during this period.

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Officials emphasised that the data reflects real changes compared to previous years due to the unique approach of maintaining a separate student database, making it incomparable to data from 2021-22 or earlier.

This detailed data helps identify 'ghost students,' ensures benefits are directed to deserving students, and supports better governance through efficient expenditure management, they added.

"Individual student-wise data reflects a realistic and more accurate picture of the education system, which is being attempted for the first time at the national level, marking a departure from the school-wise consolidated data collected till 2021-22. Hence, the data is not strictly comparable to the previous reports on various educational indicators such as GER, NER, dropout rates, etc.," a senior official said.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) compares the enrolment in a specific level of education to the population of the age-group, which is most age appropriate for that level of education.

Curtailing dropouts and ensuring universal access to education at all levels by 2030 is one of the primary goals of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Areas such as enrolment and retention of students show how many students who entered the school at Class-1 are being retained in subsequent years, representing effectiveness of policy.

"With individual student-wise data, dropout of students can now be identified precisely, who can be tracked and be brought back to school. This will also help monitor the progression of students through their entire school life. It is calculated based on actual movement of students from one level to another using individual student-wise data. It represents the actual scenario more precisely," the official said.

The report also noted that the availability of schools, teachers and students enrolled in different states are different.

In states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, the percentage of schools available is more than the percentage of students enrolled, implying underutilisation of available schools.

"Whereas in states like Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Bihar, the percentage of available schools is significantly less as compared to enrolled students, indicating better utilisation of infrastructure," the report said.

(With PTI Inputs)

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