Drop in School Enrolments

The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data released by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for 2022-23 and 2023-24 has revealed a significant decline in the total student enrolment in schools across India, particularly between 2022-23 and 2023-24. The figures indicate a drop of over 1 crore students (approximately 6% decline), from 25.18 crore students in 2022-23 to 24.8 crore students in 2023-24. This represents a significant decline when compared to the previous years, where enrolment was consistently around 26 crore students.

Potential Causes of the Drop:

• Elimination of Duplicate Enrolments: One of the reasons could be the identification and removal of duplicate enrolments, where students who transferred between schools were mistakenly counted multiple times in previous years.
• Inflated Enrolment Figures: Previous enrolment numbers may have been overestimated due to reporting discrepancies, which is now being corrected by the new methodology.
• Underreporting or Misreporting: The drop in enrolment may also reflect the underreporting or misreporting of actual student numbers by some schools.
• School Closures and Mergers: There has been a noticeable decrease in the number of schools covered under UDISE+, with 87,012 fewer schools reported in 2023-24 compared to previous years. Most of these schools are government-run, and a large portion of this decline is due to school closures or mergers, particularly in states like Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh.

Impact of School Closures:

• The closures of schools, particularly in rural and remote areas, may have forced students to either drop out or seek re-admission in nearby schools. The process of seeking re-admission often involves challenges such as longer travel distances, which can be a deterrent for parents, especially in areas where infrastructure is lacking.
• This re-admission process may have led to an increase in dropout rates, as some parents may not be willing to send their children to distant schools, resulting in students dropping out instead.
• Regional Impact: The decline in the number of schools and enrolment has been more prominent in certain states:

• Jammu and Kashmir experienced the largest decline, with 4,509 fewer schools.
• Assam saw a reduction of 4,229 schools, and Uttar Pradesh reported a decrease of 2,967 schools.
• Other states like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra also experienced a decrease in the number of schools.

Implications for Education and Policy:

The decline in school enrolment and the number of schools has serious implications for India's education system:

• Access to Education: School closures and mergers could affect the accessibility of education for students, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The Right to Education (RTE) Act mandates the availability of primary schools within one kilometer, but these norms may not always be followed during school closures.
• Quality of Education: The decrease in the number of schools could also impact the quality of education, especially if students are forced to travel longer distances to access better schools.
• Government Funding and Schemes: The reduction in student numbers may also raise questions about the allocation of funds for schemes like Samagra Shiksha, which provides financial assistance for various educational purposes. If enrolment figures were inflated previously, the effectiveness of the funding distribution could be questioned.