School Dropout Rate Falls, Teacher Strength Crosses 1 Crore

July 8, 2026

Why in the News?

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.

What’s in Today’s Article?

About UDISE+ and PGI (Key Findings of the Reports, Significance, Concerns, etc.)

About UDISE+ and PGI

The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) is the government of India's official digital database for the education sector.
Maintained by the Ministry of Education, it collates real-time statistics on:

The database is populated through voluntary uploading of data by schools with active UDISE+ codes.
The Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 assesses states and Union Territories across six domains:

The PGI uses a 10-tier ranking system to grade states based on their performance in these domains.

Key Findings from UDISE+ 2025-26

Decline in Dropout Rates
- The academic year 2025-26 witnessed a notable reduction in dropout rates across preparatory and secondary levels compared to previous years:
  - Preparatory level: Dropout rate declined from 2.3% in 2024-25 to 1.8% in 2025-26.
  - Secondary level: Dropout rate declined from 8.2% in 2024-25 to 7.0% in 2025-26.

However, the highest dropout rates at the secondary level were recorded in Ladakh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka.

Improvement in Student Retention
- Student retention has shown a positive trend at higher levels:
  - Middle level: Retention increased from 82.8% (2024-25) to 83.7% (2025-26).
  - Secondary level: Retention increased significantly from 47.2% (2024-25) to 51.9% (2025-26).

However, a marginal decline was observed at the foundational and preparatory levels in 2025-26, following three consecutive years of improvement.

Concerning Retention Reality
- 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.
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)
- The GER at the secondary level improved considerably:
  - From 68.5% in 2024-25 to 71.7% in 2025-26.
- This reflects greater accessibility and continued enrolment at higher levels.

Teacher Strength Crosses One Crore
- 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.
- Women continue to account for the majority of the workforce at 54.9%.
- Rising teacher numbers are seen as critical for improving student-teacher ratios and ensuring quality education.

Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR)
- PTRs have continued to improve, comfortably surpassing the NEP target of 30:1:
  - Foundational stage: 10
  - Preparatory: 12
  - Middle: 17
  - Secondary: 21

Girls' Enrolment
- Girls accounted for 48.4% of total enrolment in 2025-26, marginally up from 48.3% in the previous year.
Digital Access and Infrastructure
- Significant improvements were reported in digital access
  - Computer access in schools increased from 64.7% to 69.9%.
  - Internet connectivity improved from 63.5% to 67.4%.
- Basic amenities showed near-universal availability:
  - Safe drinking water: 99.5%
  - Girls' toilets: 98.5%
  - Boys' toilets: 97.2%
  - Grid electricity: 95%
- However, playground availability declined from 83% to 81.9%.

Inclusion
- Schools with disability-accessible ramps and handrails increased from 54.9% to 58.2%.
Enrolment Composition

Minority communities account for over 20% of total enrolment.
Among minority students: Muslims 79.4%, Christians 10.1%, Sikhs 7.1%, Buddhists 2.0%, Jains 1.3%, Parsis 0.1%.
Social category breakdown: OBC 44.9%, General 27.5%, SC 17.7%, ST 10%.

Performance Grading Index 2.0 Findings

State-Wise Performance
- 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.
Top Performers

Chandigarh: The only UT to reach the fourth-highest grade, 'Uttam-3'.
'Prachesta-1' category (51%-60%): Delhi, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Kerala, and Punjab.

'Prachesta-2' category (41%-50%): Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Lakshadweep.
'Prachesta-3' (31%-40%) and 'Akanshi-1' (21%-30%): Most states fall in these categories, with 13 states in each grade.

Aspirational Category
- The 'Akanshi' category (lower end of rankings) includes:
  - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir
  - Northeastern states: Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya

Decliners
- States showing a decline in PGI scores compared with 2024-25:
  - Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, and Uttarakhand

Highest score: Chandigarh at 766.0
Lowest score: Meghalaya at 525.7
Gap: 31.4% between the top and bottom performers
Encouragingly, the gap has narrowed from 51% in 2017-18, indicating some progress in reducing inter-state disparities in school education quality.

Significance and Concerns

Falling dropout rates signal improved retention and school responsiveness.
Rising teacher strength and improving PTR indicate better educational conditions.
Digital access improvements reflect the growing integration of technology in schools.
Near-universal basic amenities show progress in school infrastructure.

Only half of Class I students reach Class XII, reflecting continued attrition at higher levels.
No state has achieved the top three PGI grades, indicating significant room for improvement.
Marginal decline in retention at foundational and preparatory levels needs attention.
Wide inter-state disparities in performance, especially in aspirational states.
Aspirational category states, particularly in the northeast and Hindi-belt, require focused intervention.