NITI Aayog report flags gaps in school infrastructure, teacher shortages, and rising dropout rates

A new report released by NITI Aayog has highlighted major concerns in India’s school education system, pointing to shortages in basic infrastructure, teacher vacancies, weak learning outcomes, and increasing dropout rates in several states.

The report, titled “School Education System in India,” compiles national and state-level data related to school infrastructure, enrollment, staffing, and educational performance indicators.

Infrastructure Gaps Across Schools

According to the report, thousands of schools across the country continue to function without essential facilities such as toilets, electricity, drinking water, laboratories, and handwashing infrastructure.

Although toilet coverage has improved overall, the report states that 98,592 schools still do not have functional girls’ toilets, while 61,540 schools lack usable toilet facilities altogether.

Electricity access in schools has increased from 55% to 91.9% over the last decade. However, nearly 1.19 lakh schools are still operating without functional electricity connections.

The report further noted that around 14,505 schools do not have water access and 59,829 schools lack handwashing facilities. At the secondary level, only 51.7% of government schools currently have science laboratories.

Teacher Shortage and Learning Concerns

The report stated that 104,125 schools in India are functioning with only one teacher, with nearly 89% of these institutions located in rural areas.

Some states were also found to have high pupil-teacher ratios at the secondary level. In Jharkhand, the ratio in government secondary schools stands at 47:1, significantly above the ideal range of 10:1 to 18:1.

Among states reporting the highest vacancies for elementary teachers, Bihar recorded 208,784 vacancies, followed by Jharkhand with 80,341 and Madhya Pradesh with 47,122.

The report also raised concerns about teacher competency. It found that only 2% of teachers could score above 70% in Mathematics, while the average score remained at 46%.

Additionally, teachers lose nearly 14% of instructional days on average due to non-academic assignments such as elections, surveys, and administrative responsibilities.

Dropout Rates and Zero Enrollment Schools

The report identified 7,993 schools across the country with zero student enrollment. West Bengal reported the highest number of such schools at 3,812, followed by Telangana with 2,245.

High dropout rates at the secondary level continue to remain a significant challenge. The national secondary school dropout rate currently stands at 11.5%.

Among states with dropout rates above the national average, West Bengal recorded 20%; Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka each reported 18.3%, while Assam recorded 17.5%.

The report also observed worsening trends in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, the secondary school dropout rate increased from 2.98% to 9.3%, while Uttar Pradesh saw a rise from 0.52% to 3%.

Education Spending and Performance Indicators

According to the findings, India currently spends 4.6% of its GDP on education. The report compared this with higher public education expenditure levels in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States at around 5.9% and Germany and France at nearly 5.4%.

Based on Parakh outcome mapping, states including Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir showed weaker educational performance indicators, while Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan performed comparatively better.

Parakh, which stands for Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development, was established in 2023 under NCERT as part of the National Education Policy 2020 framework.