NITI Aayog: India 90% primary, 79% secondary, 58% higher secondary

India May 11, 2026

A new NITI Aayog report says India's doing well at getting kids into primary schools (over 90% enrollment), but a lot of students drop out as they move to higher grades.
By secondary school, enrollment falls to about 79%, and only 58% make it to higher secondary.

Report flags small and single-teacher schools

The report points to some big challenges: 75.1% of students transition from secondary to higher secondary, more than one-third of schools have fewer than 50 students, and over 100,000 schools run with just one teacher for everyone.
Even though most schools now have electricity and more internet access, the report says fixing basic learning gaps and school management is key if we want more students to stay in school longer.