In Brief
- Nearly 73% of students drop out before finishing higher secondary education.
- The panel urges increasing the number of secondary and higher secondary schools.
- Committee stresses urgent need to address drop-out rates.
- Improving school availability seen as key to reducing student drop-outs.
A parliamentary panel has flagged a "drastic decline" in schools and student enrolments as education levels rise, noting that nearly 73% of students drop out before completing higher secondary school. The observations were presented to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, in the Tenth Report (18th Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Estimates (2026–27), titled "Budget and Policy aspects for providing Affordable and Quality Education in the Country including Review of Central Board of Secondary Education."
Citing UDISE 2024–25 data, the report highlighted a sharp drop in physical infrastructure across tiers: 9,11,032 primary schools, 4,12,805 upper primary schools, 1,61,808 secondary schools, and just 90,866 higher secondary schools. Student enrolment follows the same downward trend—falling from 6.18 crore in primary and 4.08 crore in upper primary to 2.36 crore in secondary and 1.64 crore in higher secondary.
To address this gap and curb dropouts, the panel urged the Ministry of Education to prioritize upgrading existing primary and secondary institutions into full higher secondary schools, while actively coordinating with state governments and UT administrations.
