In News:

The Ministry of Education has released the UDISE 2025–26 Report and the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for States/UTs. The reports indicate improvements in dropout rates, student retention, teacher strength and school infrastructure, while highlighting persistent challenges in learning outcomes and inter-state disparities.

About UDISE and PGI

The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE ) is the Government of India's official digital database for school education, maintained by the Ministry of Education. It provides comprehensive data on school infrastructure, enrolment, teachers, facilities and learning environment based on information uploaded by schools with valid UDISE codes.

The Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0, developed by the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), evaluates the performance of States and Union Territories across six domains—Learning Outcomes, Access, Infrastructure & Facilities, Equity, Governance Process, and Teacher Education & Training—through a 10-tier grading framework.

Key Findings of UDISE 2025–26

The report records encouraging progress in school education. Dropout rates declined from 2.3% to 1.8% at the preparatory stage and from 8.2% to 7.0% at the secondary stage, reflecting improved access to schools and targeted interventions. However, Ladakh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka reported the highest secondary-level dropout rates.

Student retention also improved, with middle-level retention increasing to 83.7% and secondary-level retention rising to 51.9%. Despite this progress, only about half of the students entering Class I reach Class XII, indicating significant attrition during higher schooling.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the secondary level increased from 68.5% to 71.7%, suggesting greater participation in secondary education.

Teacher availability improved significantly, with the total number of school teachers crossing 1.02 crore for the first time. Women constitute 54.9% of the teaching workforce. Improved teacher availability has also resulted in favourablePupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR) of 10:1 at the foundational stage, 12:1 at the preparatory stage, 17:1 at the middle stage and 21:1 at the secondary stage, all well within the NEP 2020 benchmark of 30:1.

School infrastructure also showed progress. Computer access increased to 69.9%, internet connectivity to 67.4%, while access to drinking water, toilets and electricity approached universal coverage. Accessibility for children with disabilities improved, with 58.2% of schools now equipped with ramps and handrails. However, the availability of playgrounds declined slightly to 81.9%, raising concerns regarding physical education.

Key Findings of PGI 2.0

The PGI 2025–26 reveals that no State or Union Territory achieved any of the top three performance grades, indicating that substantial improvements are still required in school education.

Chandigarh emerged as the best performer by securing the 'Uttam-3' grade. Delhi, Kerala, Punjab, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu were placed in the 'Prachesta-1' category.

Among individual domains, Punjab led in Learning Outcomes, Kerala topped Access and jointly led Teacher Education & Training with Lakshadweep, while Tamil Nadu ranked highest in Equity.

At the lower end of the rankings, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir and several North-Eastern States remained in the aspirational category. The gap between the highest scorer (Chandigarh – 766) and the lowest (Meghalaya – 525.7) narrowed to 31.4%, compared to 51% in 2017–18, indicating gradual reduction in regional disparities.

Significance

The reports highlight steady progress in improving school access, teacher availability, digital infrastructure and student retention, reflecting the growing emphasis on data-driven educational governance. At the same time, persistent challenges such as learning outcomes, secondary-level attrition, regional disparities and uneven educational quality underscore the need for sustained policy attention to achieve the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Way Forward

Future reforms should focus on improving foundational learning, reducing secondary-level dropout, strengthening teacher quality, bridging regional disparities and enhancing digital as well as sports infrastructure. Greater use of UDISE and PGI data for evidence-based planning can help States design targeted interventions and improve educational outcomes.