Context:

The UDISE+ report highlights the decreasing school enrollment in 2022 and 2023-24 from previous years.

Key highlights of the Report:

From 2018-19 to 2021-22, school enrolment remained consistently above 26 crore, with slight yearly increases.

In 2022-23, enrolment fell to 25.17 crore, and further declined to 24.8 crore in 2023-24, marking a drop of 1.55 crore students (around 6%) compared to the previous years.

The largest enrolment decline in 2023-24 compared to 2018-19 was in Bihar (down by 35.65 lakh), followed by Uttar Pradesh (down by 28.26 lakh) and Maharashtra (down by 18.55 lakh).

Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, and Telangana saw an increase in enrolment.

Total School enrollment is divided into 4 sections:

• Foundational 5.34 Cr
• Preparatory 6.75 Cr 
• Middle 6.31 Cr 
• Secondary 6.39 Cr

Enrolment for both boys and girls dropped in 2023-24, with a higher drop for boys (around 6.04% decrease, with 12.87 crore boys enrolled).

Girls' enrolment dropped by 4.5% (around 11.93 crore girls enrolled in 2023-24).

The drop in enrolment is attributed to revised data collection methods implemented in 2022-23, which now require student-specific data (e.g., name, Aadhaar number).

Revised Data Collection Methods: 

• This change aimed to reduce inflated enrolment figures by removing duplicates, such as students enrolled in both government and private schools.
• The data is now Aadhaar-linked, ensuring more accurate enrolment figures, although some technical issues with Aadhaar matching remain.
• The new system helps identify beneficiaries for various schemes like Samagra Shiksha, PM POSHAN, and National Scholarship.
• It is expected to result in significant savings for the government in the future.

Various programmes and schemes for school education:

PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI): Launched in 2022 (Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)) to set up more than 14,500 PM SHRI Schools, over the period FY23 to FY27.

Samagra Shiksha scheme: It is an integrated scheme for school education covering the entire gamut from pre-school to class XII. 

• The scheme treats school education as a continuum and is in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4). 
• The scheme not only provides support for the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 but has also been aligned with the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 
• It has been extended for the next five years till March 31, 2026

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL).

National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for Foundational Stage: NCF for Foundational Stage has been launched as the new 5+3+3+4 curricular structure which integrates early childhood care and education for all children of ages 3 to 8.