Is India Nearing 100% School Enrolment? Yes & No

2019-20 data shows progress at primary level, but high dropouts in higher classes

- Rema Nagarajan

A report based on data for 2019-20 pertaining to 1.5 million private and government schools in India, collected by GoI’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) was released recently. Arun C Mehta, former Head of the Department of Educational Management Information System, NIEPA, New Delhi, who was in charge of UDISE from 2002 till 2017, distilled the report’s message to Rema Nagarajan:

UDISE+ data says total enrolment in schools has increased in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19 by 1.6%. What’s your inference?

Overall school enrolment might have increased, but enrolment at the primary level has reduced from 13.5 crore in 2012-13 to 12.2 crore in 2019-20. The reason for comparing with 2012-13 UDISE data is because that is the first year of the unification of elementary school data with secondary and higher secondary school data.

The explanation that the decline in gross enrolment ratio during the period 2012-13 to 2019-20 is because children started entering the system at the appropriate age is not fully correct. The reason for the decline in GER is the steep decline in enrolment in absolute numbers from 2016-17 onwards.