School enrolment fell by 1.Imn in 2024-2025

School enrolment across India fell by LI million students in 2024-25, with the steepest decline concentrated in the early years of education, according to the latest government data.

- Sanjay Maurya and ‘Abhishek Jha

Total enrolment slipped 0.45% from 248 million in 2023-24 to 246.9 million in 2024-25, the education ministry's UDISE+ data showed. The foundational stage— covering pre-primary to Class 2— lost L1 million students, while the preparatory stage spanning Classes 3-5 shed nearly 14 million, together accounting for 2.5 million of the total decline.

Higher classes bucked the trend, with middle stage enrolment (Classes 6-8) rising by 570,000 and secondary stage (Classes 9-12) growing by 810,000 students.

Demographic shift behind decline

The drop reflects India’s changing demographics as birth rates fall, according to ministry officials. The country’s total fertility rate (TFR) declined from 2.8 in 2006 to 2.0 in 2022, according to Sample Registration System (SRS) data.

“The decline may largely be attributed to demographic shifts with falling birth rates in primary school-age population. It could also be explained by children attending pre-primary standalone private institutions,” an education ministry official said, asking not to be named.

United Nations population projections released in 2024 indicate India’s 5-14 age group population began declining in 2012, with the 5-9 age bracket shrinking since 2010. This trend has contributed to school enrolment declines across most states between 2018-19 and 2023-24, as previously reported.

The current 0.45% decline is smaller than the 5.1% drop in 2022-23 and 1.49% fall in 2023-24, buthigher than the 0.03% decline in 2020-21.