India has lowest school enrollment in 7 years
For the 2024-25 school year, India has its lowest student enrollment in seven years—24.68 crore kids are in school, down by 11 lakh from last year.
The biggest drop is in primary classes (1-5), which lost about 34 lakh students, mainly because fewer children are being born.
Government schools lost 59 lakh students
Government schools saw a sharp decrease of 59 lakh students, now enrolling 12.16 crore.
Private schools went the other way, gaining nearly 60 lakh more and reaching 9.59 crore students.
This shift lines up with India's falling fertility rate—now at just 1.91 children per woman.
Regional disparities in enrollment trends
While pre-primary and upper classes (6-12) actually saw more enrollments thanks to better retention and fewer dropouts, southern states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu faced bigger declines due to lower birth rates.
In contrast, northern states such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam had small increases in student numbers.