School enrolments increased by 287,086 students in 2025-26, a marginal rise that came after three straight years of declines, though the number plunged between classes 3 and 8, central government data showed.School enrolment rose marginally in 2025-26, according to UDISE+ data (PTI file)Total enrolments increased 0.12% – from 246.9 million in 2024-25 to 247.2 million in 2025-26, data from the education ministry’s United District Information System for Education (UDISE+) showed.The foundational stagecovering pre-primary to Class 2, added more than 1.23 million students compared to the number in 2024-25. However, the preparatory stage, from classes 3 to 5 lost 2.83 million students and middle stage enrolment (Classes 6-8) shed 453,676 students. The secondary stage (classes 9 to 12) grew by 2.34 million students.The increase stemmed years of consecutive decline in school enrolment – 0.45% in 2024-25, 1.49% in 2023-24 and 5.1% in 2022-23. The drop in 2022-23 was mainly due to Covid-19 pandemic affecting family income, while for the years 2023-24 and 2024-25, education ministry officials had cited changing demography and Aadhaar seeding.Also read: Covid-19 pandemic fallout drove 90% of 465 UP Board schools to lose affiliationTo be sure, the overall enrolment count in 2025-26 was still lower than in 2023-24 (248.04 million) and 2022-23 (251.7 million).The preparatory stage logged the biggest drop in absolute and proportional terms. Enrolment decreased by 4.3% compared to only 0.7% at the middle stage. Enrolment in foundational level increased by 2.4% after declining 1.8% and 2.1% in the preceding two years.Also read: School enrolment fell by 1.1mn in 2024-2025: Govt dataSecondary level enrolment increased by 3.6% compared to a 2.6% contraction in 2023-24 and 1.3% growth in 2024-25.The ministry did not attribute any reasons behind the drop in enrolment.To be sure, the categories above are based on National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, data for which has been published in the UDISE+ reports only since 2022-23.Longer-term data from the structure prevailing earlier also published alongside the NEP structure data which shows that 2025-26 was the fifth consecutive year of declining enrolment at the primary level, which covers classes 1 to 5.The number of teachers increased from 10.12 million in 2024-25 to 10.27 million in 2025-26. “Increase in the number of teachers is a critical step toward improving student-teacher ratios, ensuring quality education, and addressing regional disparities in teacher availability,” the ministry said.The academic year 2025–26 has seen a notable reduction in dropout rates, the percentage of students who leave school before completing their education across preparatory and secondary levels as compared to the last years namely, 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25. At the preparatory level, the dropout rate declined from 2.3% in 2024-25 to 1.8% in 2025-26 and at the secondary level from 8.2% to 7.0%. At the middle level, however, the dropout rate has increased marginally from 3.5% to 3.6%.“This downward trend highlights improved student retention and reflects the success of initiatives aimed at keeping children engaged in their education. The consistent decrease across all levels suggests that schools are becoming more supportive and responsive to students’ needs,” the ministry said.The retention ratesthe percentage of students from a specific starting cohort who remain enrolled and continue their studies from one academic year to the next - increased from 82.8% in 2024-25 to 83.7% in 2025-26 at the middle level and from 47.2% in 2024-25 to 51.9% in 2025-26 at the secondary level. However, a marginal decline was observed at the foundational and preparatory levels from 98.9% in 2024-25 to 98.5% in 2025-26 and 92.4% in 2024-25 to 91.1% in 2025–26, respectively.Single-teacher schools reduced by around 3% from 104,125 in 2024–25 to 100,843 in 2025-26. Similarly, the number of schools having zero enrolment witnessed a decline of around 29% from 7993 to 5663. The share of these schools in total schools has also decreased.The number of schools with computer access increased from 64.7% in 2024-25 to 69.9% in 2025-26. The percentage of schools with internet connectivity increased from 63.5% in 2024-25 to 67.4% in 2025-26. About 95.0% of schools are powered with electricity, 98.5% have girls’ toilets, and 97.2% have boys’ toilets.Also read: NITI Aayog suggests ‘school clusters’ for better learning and use of resources