Mon Jan 06 10:00:00 IST 2025: ## School Enrollment Plunges in India: New Data Collection Method Reveals Drop of Over 10 Million

**New Delhi, [Date]** – India has witnessed a significant drop in school enrollment, according to two new reports released by the Ministry of Education. The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) reports for 2022-23 and 2023-24 reveal a decrease of over 10 million students compared to the average enrollment between 2018-19 and 2021-22.

While enrollment remained consistently above 260 million from 2018-19 to 2021-22, it plummeted to 251.7 million in 2022-23 and further to 248 million in 2023-24. The sharpest decline was observed in Bihar (3.56 million) and Uttar Pradesh (2.82 million).

However, Ministry officials attribute this drastic fall not to a rise in children out of school, but to a change in data collection methodology. Previously, schools reported enrollment figures collectively; the new system, implemented from 2022-23 onwards, requires individual student data including name, address, and Aadhaar details. This shift, officials claim, has eliminated “ghost students”—those enrolled in multiple schools to access government benefits.

The new student-centric approach, recommended by the National Education Policy 2020, aims for more accurate tracking of students and their academic progress. The comprehensive data collected now includes details such as exam results, attendance, height, and weight, creating a more precise educational registry. The system also includes a detailed teacher registry, facilitating better teacher deployment and attendance tracking.

The Ministry maintains that the data, collected from over 1.47 million schools across the country, underwent rigorous verification at various levels—school cluster, district, and state—before being finalized. The change in methodology, while resulting in a significant drop in reported numbers, is seen as a step towards a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of India’s school education system.

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