Students Drifting from Government Schools: Centre Flags ‘Disturbing’ Trend to States
Education Ministry urges states to investigate falling enrolment, rising preference for private institutions
The Union Ministry of Education has raised serious concerns over a growing exodus of students from government schools, calling it a “disturbing trend” that demands urgent attention. During recent consultations with states, officials flagged the steady uptick in private school enrolment even in regions where government schools are more prevalent.
These discussions took place in March and April as part of annual planning meetings for the 2025–26 Samagra Shiksha scheme, and documents accessed by this publication reveal the Centre’s push for states to course correct.
Numbers Don’t Lie and They’re Not Pretty
In several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, the data paints a stark picture. Government schools vastly outnumber private ones, but still struggle to retain student enrolment.
Take Andhra Pradesh: of the 61,000-odd schools in the state, a massive 73% are government run. Yet, only about 46% of students are enrolled in them. The rest have migrated to private schools, which account for just a quarter of total institutions but now educate over half the students.
Telangana’s story runs parallel. Government schools make up 70% of all institutions, but serve just 38% of students. Private schools, meanwhile, have captured over 60% of the student base. Uttarakhand, too, shows a similar skew with 72% government schools enrolling only around 37% of students.
The Education Ministry’s response? A firm nudge to state officials to dig deeper and fix what’s broken. As one senior official put it, “In spite of significant investment in government schools, students are walking away. That should make all of us sit up.”
Covid Years Accelerated the Decline
While the trend has been years in the making, the post Covid landscape appears to have intensified it. Officials noted that in most states, private school enrolment held steady or rose between 2021 and 2024, with only minor dips during the pandemic.
In Telangana and Uttarakhand, for example, the Ministry cited enrolment data from the 2018–2024 period that shows a steady climb for unaided private schools apart from a brief pandemic related dip in 2021–22.
Even in Tamil Nadu, where government schools make up nearly two-thirds of all institutions, only 37% of students attend them. In contrast, private unaided schools just 21% of the total account for 46% of the student population. The Centre has asked Tamil Nadu to “build the government school brand” to win back public confidence.
North-Eastern States and UTs Also Affected
It’s not just the big states. In places like Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Meghalaya, enrolment in government and aided schools has dropped when compared to earlier years.
Union Territories are seeing a similar trend. In Delhi, Puducherry, Ladakh, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, private school enrolment is consistently outpacing that of government schools something the Ministry has labeled a “matter of concern.”
So, What’s Going On?
A senior Ministry official told us the shift isn’t just about infrastructure or funding it’s about perception. “Aspirations have changed. Parents want more, and many feel private schools offer better outcomes even if that’s not always the case,” the official said.
States have been asked to analyse the root causes and look beyond the surface. That means asking tough questions: Are teachers motivated? Are facilities lacking? Is there a visible gap in quality?
Some states, like Maharashtra and Kerala, attributed the drop to recent data cleansing exercises that used Aadhaar to weed out ghost entries. Still, officials acknowledged that the real story likely goes beyond just cleaned-up spreadsheets.
The National Picture
According to the latest UDISE+ data for 2023–24, about 36% of India’s 24.8 crore school-going children are now enrolled in private schools roughly over 9 crore students. That’s up from 33% in the previous two years. Before the pandemic, in 2019-20, private school enrolment stood at 37%.
While these numbers may seem like small shifts on paper, the implications are massive. They suggest a widening trust gap between families and the public education system one that states can no longer afford to ignore.
What Happens Next?
The Centre has made it clear: this isn’t just about enrolment statistics. It’s about faith in public education. And if that faith continues to erode, the consequences could be long-term and far reaching.
For now, the ball is in the states’ court. Whether they can reverse the slide and restore confidence in government schools remains to be seen.
