Students leaving school amid heavy downpour in Kochi.

| Photo Credit: H. VIBHU

The number of students taking admission to Class I in the State continues to drop. According to the sixth working day headcount, the number of new admissions to Class I declined by 31,481. Significantly, the admissions fell across government, aided, and unaided sectors.In the 2025-26 academic year, there were 2,82,339 students in Class I on the sixth working day. This has fallen to 2,50,858 this year. This year, 73,614 students took admission to Class I in government schools as compared to 84,627 last year, a difference of 11,013. In aided schools, 1,33,092 students took admission to Class I as compared to 1,49,849 last year, a decline of 16,757. In unaided schools, the new Class I admissions came to 44,152 this year, 3,711 fewer than 47,863 last year.Class I enrolments have been declining in the government and aided sectors for the past three years, but the unaided sector had been registering an increase. Last year, the increase in unaided schools was only by one, while this year the numbers declined by more than 3,700.The student enrolment in Classes I to X too did not show a positive trend. It was 34,11,194 this year as compared to 35,34,702 in 2025-26, a variation of 1,23,508.The number of new students up to high school increased by 4,086 in the government sector and 45,161 in the aided sector but declined in the unaided sector by 7,009. Altogether, the number of new enrolments comes to 42,238 across the three sectors.The number of enrolments in Class I in the government sector last year was 84,627. This year in Class II the enrolments came to 85,214, an increase of 587. In the aided sector, the Class I enrolments last year came to 1,49,849. This increased to 1,52,719 in Class II this year, up by 2,870. In the unaided sector, Class I enrolments last year were 47,863. The student strength when these students reached Class II was 48,565, an increase of 702.The UID factorFinal numbers may well increase since students without UID or who have invalid UID have not been considered in the headcount. Though UID-based staff fixation has been followed in the State, time is usually allowed to students to correct any errors. Concerns have also been raised about denial of admissions to migrant children who do not have UID. Published - June 12, 2026 07:36 pm IST