Number of school teachers crossed 1 cr, student enrolment dropped during 2024-25: MoE report

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) For the first time in any academic year, the total number of school teachers across the country crossed the one crore mark during 2024–25, the Ministry of Education's UDISE data showed.

While the overall school enrolment in India has been reported at a seven-year low of 24.68 crore in 2024–25, recording a drop of 11 lakh compared to the previous year, the officials attributed the decline in overall enrolment primarily to falling birth rates, except in a few states.

The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus is a data aggregation platform maintained by the education ministry to collate school education data from across the country.

"The increase in teacher numbers is a critical step toward improving student-teacher ratios, ensuring quality education, and addressing regional disparities in teacher availability. The numbers are steadily increasing since 2022-23 and the reporting year.

"There is a rise of 6.7 pc in the number of teachers during the reporting year as compared to 2022-23," the report said.

According to UDISE Plus, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) at the foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary levels is now reported as 10, 13, 17 and 21 respectively, all significantly improved ratios compared to the National Education Policy's (NEP's) recommended ratio of 1:30.

"This improved PTR facilitates more individualized attention and stronger interaction between teachers and students, contributing to enhanced learning experiences and better academic outcomes," the report said.

The enrolment figures have been declining consistently over the years — in 2023-24, the number of students enrolled in schools was 24.8 crore, down from the figure of 25.18 crore in 2022-23.

"The decline in enrolment is primarily due to falling birth rates... that is why fewer children are entering the lower classes. For instance, when calculating the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), we use the number of children in a specific age group — and for that, we rely on the 2011 Census data. As a result, the denominator becomes inflated in the current projections. Once we have updated data from the new Census in 2026, many of these figures are likely to change,” a senior official said.

The academic year 2024–25 has seen a notable reduction in dropout rates across the preparatory, middle and secondary levels as compared to the last two years, namely, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

At the preparatory stage, the rate declined from 3.7 per cent to 2.3 per cent, at the middle stage from 5.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent and at the secondary stage from 10.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent in comparison with the previous year.

"This downward trend highlights improved student retention and reflects the success of initiatives aimed at keeping children engaged in their education. The consistent decrease across all levels suggests that schools are becoming more supportive and responsive to students' needs, helping to reduce early departures from the system," the report noted.

The academic year 2024–25 has demonstrated a positive trend in student retention across all educational levels -- foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary. Retention rates have improved significantly compared to the previous year, increasing from 98.0 per cent to 98.9 per cent at the foundational level, 85.4 per cent to 92.4 per cent at the preparatory level, 78.0 to 82.8 per cent at the middle level and 45.6 per cent to 47.2 per cent at the secondary level.

"One of the key contributing factors to this improvement, particularly at the secondary level, is the increase in the number of schools offering secondary education. This expansion has enhanced accessibility and encouraged continued enrolment.

"Overall, the rising retention rates are a strong indicator of progress in the education system and reflect the impact of targeted interventions," the report said.

UDISE Plus Indian schooling system has reported characteristics of zero enrolment, as well as single-teacher schools.

"Due to the conscious and meaningful governmental interventions, there has been a consistent decline in the number of zero enrolment schools as also in the single teacher schools. The UDISE + findings are instrumental in strategising and rationalising the allocation of teachers appropriately in the schools balancing the judicious PTR.

"As may be seen from statement that single teacher schools have reduced by around 6 pc in the reporting year in comparison with the previous year. Similarly, the number of schools having zero enrolment witnessed a whopping decline of around 38 pc," it said. PTI GJS GJS KSS KSS