India's School Education Progress: UDISE+ 2025-26 Report
The UDISE+ 2025-26 report presents a comprehensive assessment of India's school education system, covering 14.67 lakh schools, 1.03 crore teachers, and 24.72 crore students. The report demonstrates significant improvements across multiple educational metrics, reflecting progress under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 framework.
Enrollment and Access Metrics
The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) shows substantial improvement, reaching 71.7% at the Secondary stage and maintaining 89.6% at the Middle stage. Enrollment distribution across educational stages remains balanced: Secondary stage accounts for 27.16% of total enrollment, Preparatory stage 25.60%, Middle stage 25.58%, and Foundational stage 21.66%. The system maintains a highly favorable overall Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 24:1, well within the NEP 2020-recommended benchmark of 30:1.
Stage-wise Teacher Ratios and Retention
Stage-specific PTR metrics show excellent teacher availability: Foundational stage at 10:1, Preparatory stage at 12:1, Middle stage at 17:1, and Secondary stage at 21:1. Student retention rates remain strong at 98.5% (Foundational), 91.1% (Preparatory), 83.7% (Middle), and 51.9% (Secondary). Transition rates between stages are robust: 99.2% from Foundational to Preparatory, 93.8% to Middle stage, and 88.3% to Secondary stage.
Reduced Dropout Rates and School Optimization
Dropout rates have significantly declined to 1.8% at the Preparatory stage and 7.0% at the Secondary stage, while the Middle stage saw a marginal increase to 3.6%. The number of single-teacher schools decreased by approximately 3% to 1,00,843, and zero-enrollment schools saw a substantial 29% decline compared to the previous year, dropping to 5,663.
Gender and Social Inclusion
The report shows balanced gender distribution with girls accounting for 48.4% of total student enrollment. Women constitute 54.9% of the teaching workforce. Social composition of enrollment is broad-based: Other Backward Classes (OBCs) account for 44.9% of total enrollment, General category 27.5%, Scheduled Castes 17.7%, and Scheduled Tribes 10%. Children with Special Needs (CWSN) comprise 57.16% boys and 42.84% girls.
Infrastructure Development
Digital infrastructure has expanded significantly with 69.9% of schools equipped with computers and 67.4% having internet connectivity. Physical infrastructure shows substantial improvements: electricity available in 95% of schools, safe drinking water in 99.5%, girls' toilets in 98.5%, boys' toilets in 97.2%, handwashing facilities in 96.9%, libraries in 90.5%, rainwater harvesting in 29.9%, and ramps with handrails in 58.2% of schools.