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School Dropouts Are Falling in India. Here's What UDISE+ 2025 26 Reveals About Student Retention

According to the Ministry of Education, India's school educational system has recorded positive developments with improved enrollment, increased student flows, and falling dropout rates. During the question and answer session in the Rajya Sabha, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stated that in the country, the active, focused policies implemented to strengthen access, enhance learning outcomes, and make schools more inclusive are beginning to yield results.

By : Sanjay Tuteja 2026-07-24 12:31:49

Students Are More Likely to Go to Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels

New Delhi. : The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is an education indicator that is used to assess the extent to which people of a given age participate in different levels of education. According to the most recent reports of the Ministry:

  • The GER for Secondary education was 81.5% in 2025-26.
  • The GER for Higher Secondary education was 61.7% in 2025-26.

These positive reports imply students are not exiting school after finishing primary education. This also shows there is an adequate number of secondary education institutions and that  the engagement of adolescents to improve school attendance is working

 

Improvements Continuing in Transition from Class X to Class XI

Moving from secondary to senior secondary education has historically been a critical, sensitive stage in a student’s academic career. According to the most recent statistics, the transition rate from Class X to Class XI has been shown to have increased from 75.1% in 2024-25 to 78.1% in 2025-26.

A growing transition rate indicates a declining tendency to enter the workforce prematurely or to abandon education. This rate is a key reference for policymakers regarding the improvement of educational continuity.

 

Improvements in School Dropout Rates

The most positive news by far is a decline in school dropouts. The Ministry of Education reported a drop in the secondary school dropout rate from 11.5% in 2024-25 to 9.5% in 2025-26.

The larger UDISE+ 2025-26 Report confirmed a reduction of dropout rates for the majority of the stages of school education. This reflects the success of the focused attempts to keep students in the classroom and support them during the challenging stages of learning.

 

What is the Reason for These Changes?

The Ministry has ascribed an optimistic outlook to several changes under NEP 2020.

  • Investment in school infrastructure.
  • Increased opportunities for secondary education.
  • Strengthened foundational literacy and numeracy.
  • More student-centric welfare initiatives.
  • Investment in teachers.
  • Technology-integrated learning.
  • Improved monitoring through UDISE+.

 

Moving Beyond Enrollment

Many educators believe that the first step of an effective education policy is simply educated enrollment. Sustainably, education policies need to keep students in school and ensure that they progress not only through the grades but also through learning objectives.

This latest UDISE+ update from the Ministry suggests that the government is more interested in quality education than simply ensuring school enrollment. It is a positive indicator that the school education reforms in India are moving beyond ensuring that schools are accessible to all and are focusing on the quality of education.

 

Final Thoughts

Even today, the Indian educational system at the school level has gaps in the areas of inter-state imbalances, learning gaps, and equal access of children to quality education. Presently, the most recent UDISE+ indicators show that the continuous active policy interventions of the NEP 2020 are beginning to show signs of development.

As more students reach higher classes, student dropouts and enrollments at the secondary and higher secondary levels continue to increase; the challenge is to sustain the growth attained. To realize the dream of an inclusive, learner-centric education system of NEP 2020, focused, continuous effort to develop teachers and school systems, create supportive infrastructure for learning and teaching, and support students would be vital.

 

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