{"id":111954,"date":"2026-07-08T11:37:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=111954"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:37:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:07:53","slug":"school-dropout-rate-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/school-dropout-rate-report\/","title":{"rendered":"School Dropout Rate Falls, Teacher Strength Crosses 1 Crore &#8211; Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>School Dropout Rate Latest News<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Ministry of Education has released two key reports on school education, the UDISE+ 2025-26 report and the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for 2025-26, showing a decline in dropout rates, improved teacher strength, and continued challenges in learning retention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>About UDISE+ and PGI<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Unified District Information System for Education Plus<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (UDISE+) is the government of India&#8217;s official digital database for the education sector.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintained by the Ministry of Education, it collates real-time statistics on:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School infrastructure<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Student enrolment<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teacher metrics<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facilities and amenities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning environment<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The database is <\/span><b>populated through voluntary uploading of data by schools<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with active UDISE+ codes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Performance Grading Index<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (PGI) 2.0 assesses states and Union Territories across six domains:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning Outcomes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infrastructure and Facilities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Equity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Governance Process<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teacher Education and Training<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The PGI uses a 10-tier ranking system to grade states based on their performance in these domains.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Key Findings from UDISE+ 2025-26<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Decline in Dropout Rates<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The academic year 2025-26 witnessed a notable reduction in dropout rates across preparatory and secondary levels compared to previous years:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Preparatory level: Dropout rate declined from 2.3% in 2024-25 to 1.8% in 2025-26.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Secondary level: Dropout rate declined from 8.2% in 2024-25 to 7.0% in 2025-26.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the highest dropout rates at the secondary level were recorded in Ladakh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report attributes the improvement to:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An increased number of schools offering secondary education<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enhanced accessibility<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Targeted interventions<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More supportive and responsive school environments<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Improvement in Student Retention<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Student retention has shown a positive trend at higher levels:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middle level: Retention increased from 82.8% (2024-25) to 83.7% (2025-26).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Secondary level: Retention increased significantly from 47.2% (2024-25) to 51.9% (2025-26).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a marginal decline was observed at the foundational and preparatory levels in 2025-26, following three consecutive years of improvement.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Concerning Retention Reality<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite improvements, only about half of Class I students make it to Class XII, highlighting the persistent challenge of student attrition at higher levels of schooling.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The GER at the secondary level improved considerably:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From 68.5% in 2024-25 to 71.7% in 2025-26.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This reflects greater accessibility and continued enrolment at higher levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Teacher Strength Crosses One Crore<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the first time in any academic year, the total number of school teachers crossed 1.02 crore during 2025-26, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2022-23.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women continue to account for the majority of the workforce at 54.9%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising teacher numbers are seen as critical for improving student-teacher ratios and ensuring quality education.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR)<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PTRs have continued to improve, comfortably surpassing the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/national-education-policy-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\">NEP<\/a> <\/strong>target of 30:1:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Foundational stage: 10<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Preparatory: 12<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Middle: 17<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Secondary: 21<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>School Rationalisation<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zero-enrolment schools fell by 29% to 5,663.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Single-teacher schools declined by 3% to 100,843.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Girls&#8217; Enrolment<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Girls accounted for 48.4% of total enrolment in 2025-26, marginally up from 48.3% in the previous year.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Digital Access and Infrastructure<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Significant improvements were reported in digital access:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Computer access in schools increased from 64.7% to 69.9%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Internet connectivity improved from 63.5% to 67.4%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basic amenities showed near-universal availability:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Safe drinking water: 99.5%<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Girls&#8217; toilets: 98.5%<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boys&#8217; toilets: 97.2%<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grid electricity: 95%<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, playground availability declined from 83% to 81.9%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Inclusion<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Schools with disability-accessible ramps and handrails increased from 54.9% to 58.2%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Enrolment Composition<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minority communities account for over 20% of total enrolment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among minority students: Muslims 79.4%, Christians 10.1%, Sikhs 7.1%, Buddhists 2.0%, Jains 1.3%, Parsis 0.1%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social category breakdown: OBC 44.9%, General 27.5%, SC 17.7%, ST 10%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Performance Grading Index 2.0 Findings<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>State-Wise Performance<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The PGI 2025-26 revealed that no state or Union Territory achieved any of the top three grades (71%-100%) in the 10-tier ranking system.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Top Performers<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandigarh: The only UT to reach the fourth-highest grade, &#8216;Uttam-3&#8217;.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8216;Prachesta-1&#8217; category (51%-60%): Delhi, Dadra &amp; Nagar Haveli and Daman &amp; Diu, Kerala, and Punjab.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Middle Performers<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8216;Prachesta-2&#8217; category (41%-50%): Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Lakshadweep.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8216;Prachesta-3&#8217; (31%-40%) and &#8216;Akanshi-1&#8217; (21%-30%): Most states fall in these categories, with 13 states in each grade.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Aspirational Category<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The &#8216;Akanshi&#8217; category (lower end of rankings) includes:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu &amp; Kashmir<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Northeastern states: Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Domain-Wise Leaders<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning Outcomes: Punjab tops, followed by Kerala.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Access: Kerala leads along with Puducherry.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teacher Education &amp; Training: Kerala and Lakshadweep share the top position.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Equity: Tamil Nadu leads.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Decliners<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">States showing a decline in PGI scores compared with 2024-25:<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, and Uttarakhand<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Inter-State Gaps<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Highest score: Chandigarh at 766.0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lowest score: Meghalaya at 525.7<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gap: 31.4% between the top and bottom performers<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Encouragingly, the gap has narrowed from 51% in 2017-18, indicating some progress in reducing inter-state disparities in school education quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Significance and Concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Positive Trends<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Falling dropout rates signal improved retention and school responsiveness.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising teacher strength and improving PTR indicate better educational conditions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital access improvements reflect the growing integration of technology in schools.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Near-universal basic amenities show progress in school infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Persisting Challenges<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only half of Class I students reach Class XII, reflecting continued attrition at higher levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No state has achieved the top three PGI grades, indicating significant room for improvement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marginal decline in retention at foundational and preparatory levels needs attention.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wide inter-state disparities in performance, especially in aspirational states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aspirational category states, particularly in the northeast and Hindi-belt, require focused intervention.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Structural Concerns<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Playground availability declining raises concerns about physical education.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning outcomes remain a challenge, especially in aspirational states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gender parity improvements remain marginal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regional disparities in teacher availability and school infrastructure persist.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b><strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/india\/school-dropout-rate-falls-teacher-strength-crosses-1-crore\/articleshow\/132245759.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ET<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/theprint.in\/india\/school-dropout-rate-fell-sharply-across-critical-learning-stages-in-2025-26-moe-report\/2980331\/?amp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Print<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UDISE+ 2025-26 shows a decline in school dropout rate and a rise in teacher strength above 1 crore, while PGI 2.0 highlights state-level performance in education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":111968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[8569],"class_list":["post-111954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-school-dropout-rate","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111985,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111954\/revisions\/111985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}