Nearly 73% Students Drop Out Before Higher Secondary, Flags Parliamentary Panel

New Delhi, Aug 13: Nearly 73 per cent of students drop out before completing higher secondary education, with the number of schools and enrolment declining sharply as education levels rise, a parliamentary panel has flagged.

The observation was made in the Tenth Report of the Committee on Estimates (2026-27) on “Budget and Policy aspects for providing Affordable and Quality Education in the Country, Including Review of Central Board of Secondary Education”, presented in the Lok Sabha.

The committee noted that while the country has 9,11,032 schools at the primary level, the number falls to 4,12,805 at the upper primary level, 1,61,808 at the secondary level and only 90,866 at the higher secondary level, according to UDISE 2024-25 data.

Student enrolment follows a similar pattern, declining from 6.18 crore in primary classes to 4.09 crore at the upper primary level, 2.37 crore in secondary classes and 1.64 crore in higher secondary.

“The Committee are concerned to note this drastic decline in number of schools and students as education levels rises,” the report said.

It said the vast majority of the more than one million government schools were only primary schools and nearly 73 per cent of students dropped out before finishing higher secondary.

The panel strongly urged the Ministry of Education to prioritise upgrading existing primary and secondary schools into full higher secondary institutions to improve physical accessibility and arrest the student drop-off rate.

It also asked the Centre to impress upon State and UT governments to establish more secondary and higher secondary schools, noting that education is a subject in the Concurrent List and most schools fall under the jurisdiction of States and UT administrations.

The committee also flagged major gaps in infrastructure for Children with Special Needs (CwSN), noting that more than half of schools lacked CwSN-friendly facilities.

According to UDISE+ 2024-25, only 5,23,143 of 14,71,437 schools had CwSN toilets, while 8,08,466 had ramps with handrails.

The panel noted that against a budget of ₹482 lakh for constructing 186 CwSN toilets in 2024-25, only ₹2.60 lakh was utilised, with no progress against physical targets.

It also flagged poor utilisation of funds for special educators, with only ₹80.50 lakh spent against a budgetary grant of ₹962 lakh for the elementary section.

The committee recommended that the Ministry adhere to annual budget utilisation and project execution targets, provide safe and accessible infrastructure for Divyang students within a fixed timeframe, and assess and fill the requirement of special educators across the country at the earliest. (Agencies)