Niti Aayog said India’s school education system continues to face deep structural and governance challenges, including fragmented school structures, uneven infrastructure, teacher shortages and learning gaps, while calling for reforms such as composite school complexes, stronger foundational learning and wider use of digital and artificial intelligence-enabled education.
In a report, Niti Aayog said discontinuity across school stages, the prevalence of small and single-teacher schools and persistent infrastructure gaps are undermining access, retention and learning outcomes.
“The Indian school system shows significant fragmentation across levels, resulting in hampering the continuity of schooling and the efficiency of educational delivery,” the report said, adding that these design and distribution issues have led to persistent gaps in access, retention and learning.
Student attrition as children progress through school remains a major concern, the report noted. India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio stands at 90.9 per cent at the primary level but drops to 78.7 per cent at the secondary level and further to 58.4 per cent at the higher secondary stage, implying that nearly four in ten children do not continue through to higher secondary education.
India has about 14.71 lakh schools serving 24.69 crore students and more than one crore teachers, according to the report. Government schools account for 68.1 per cent of all schools and enrol 49.2 per cent of students, while private schools make up 23.1 per cent of schools and account for 38.8 per cent of enrolment.
While foundational literacy and numeracy indicators have improved after the pandemic, the report said gaps persist in conceptual understanding and application-based learning, particularly among rural, tribal and economically disadvantaged students. It also flagged uneven digital access in smaller and remote schools and said institutions catering to children with special needs require additional inclusive infrastructure and support systems.
More than one-third of schools have fewer than 50 students, with about 5.1 per cent enrolling fewer than 10 children and another 8 per cent in the 11-20 range, the report said. “The small size of these schools has made their operation economically inefficient and administratively challenging,” particularly for teacher deployment and infrastructure provision.
Infrastructure gaps also extend to sanitation, with nearly 98,600 schools lacking functional girls’ toilets and over 61,500 schools without usable toilets, affecting attendance and retention among adolescent girls. Although the share of schools with libraries rose to 89.5 per cent in 2024-25, many lack trained staff, updated collections and integration with classroom learning, limiting their effectiveness, the report added.
To address these issues, Niti Aayog recommended structural reforms such as composite school complexes and evidence-based rationalisation of schools to improve continuity and resource use. It also called for stronger School Management Committees and institutionalised bottom-up planning, noting that the Centre released updated SMC guidelines earlier this week aligned with the National Education Policy 2020.
The report further urged reforms in teacher deployment, workforce planning, professional development and school leadership, alongside competency-based assessments, expansion of foundational literacy and numeracy beyond Grade 3, integration of vocational education, strengthening early childhood care, and greater use of digital, broadcast-based and AI-enabled learning tools. |
