- India has succeeded in bringing children to school but struggles to keep them enrolled in higher classes. A NITI Aayog report reveals a significant drop in participation from primary to secondary and higher secondary levels. Dropout rates also increase sharply at these stages. The system is strong on access but weak on continuity and learning depth.
India’s school education system has largely addressed the challenge of bringing children into classrooms, but retaining them through secondary and higher secondary education remains a major concern, according to a new NITI Aayog report.
The report, titled School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement, highlights that while enrolment remains high at the elementary stage, participation drops significantly at higher levels of schooling, as per Manash Pratim Gohain’s Times of India report.
Gross enrolment ratio (GER) stands at 90.9% at the primary stage and 90.3% at upper primary, but declines to 78.7% at secondary level and further to 58.4% at higher secondary. At the same time, dropout rates rise sharply — from just 0.3% at primary and 3.5% at upper primary to 11.5% at the secondary stage.
The report describes the system as being “strongest on basic access and weakest on continuity, inclusion, and learning depth”.
India’s school education network currently comprises 14.71 lakh schools, 24.69 crore students and nearly 1.01 crore teachers. However, the report notes that the most serious gaps are now emerging beyond elementary education, particularly in ensuring students continue through higher classes.
Transition rates also weaken as students move up the education ladder. While 92.2% of students progress from primary to upper primary, the figure drops to 86.6% between upper primary and secondary, and further to 75.1% between secondary and higher secondary.
“The secondary stage has emerged as the biggest stress point,” the report notes.
“While near-universal access has been achieved at the primary stage, enrolment at the higher secondary level… presents a significant opportunity to further expand participation,” it states. It adds that “strengthening transition rates at each stage, particularly after upper primary…can help ensure smoother progression and sustained engagement in schooling.”
According to the report, the next phase of reforms must move beyond simply expanding enrolment or infrastructure and instead address “fragmented school structures, foundational learning deficits, inequities in inclusion, gaps in teacher and leadership ecosystems, infrastructure disparities, and governance weaknesses”.
Structural inefficiencies continue to persist across the system. More than one-third of schools have fewer than 50 students, while over 1.04 lakh schools operate with a single teacher, collectively serving nearly 34 lakh students.
At the same time, the report points to significant improvements in school infrastructure over the past decade. Functional electricity is now available in 91.9% of schools, girls’ toilets in 94%, computers in 64.7%, internet connectivity in 63.5%, and smart classrooms in 30.6% of schools nationwide.
