The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+) data has pointed to a growing mismatch in India’s school network, with several states reporting a large number of schools that are being used far below capacity. The pattern has raised questions about school mapping, resource allocation and whether education infrastructure is aligned with actual enrolment on the ground. A total of 24.72 crore students have been reported in the academic year 2025-26.
The latest UDISE+ report has stated that India has 14.67 lakh schools, 1.03 crore teachers, and 24.72 crore students, underscoring the scale of the school system. But the distribution of schools and students is uneven, with some areas carrying far higher student loads per school while others have schools with very low enrolment, suggesting inefficient utilisation of public infrastructure.
The UDISE+ report for the year 2025-26 highlighted that in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya, the percentage of available school are more than percentage students enrolled implying underutilisation of available schools leading to suboptimal economy to scale.
On the other hand, as per the report, states such as Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Kerala, the percentage of available schools are significantly less as compared to enrolled students indicating more students per school.
“This imbalance in the availability of schools at all levels may pose the risk of large-scale dropout of students at the higher classes,” the government report stated.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisaged the concept of achievement of “universal participation in school by carefully tracking students, as well as their learning levels.” Some key results of UDISE + 2025-26 are as follows:
- Total Number of Schools: 14,66,682
- Total Number of Enrolments: 24,72,19,766
- Total Number of teachers: 1,02,73,020
- Pupil Teacher Ratio: 24
The UDISE+ data has revealed sharp state-wise gaps in student-school distribution, with some schools underused even as others remain crowded.
