Centre asks States to raise enrolment in govt. schools

The Union Education Ministry flagged a “disturbing trend” of students shifting from government to private (unaided) schools in at least 11 States and UTs.
Notable states include: Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.
This trend raises questions on the quality of public schooling and public confidence in State-provided
The issue was flagged during Project Approval Board (PAB) meetings held in March–April
These meetings were convened to assess the Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) for 2025-26 under the Samagra Shiksha
Data presented was from UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) 2023– 24, a government system for data-driven educational planning.
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Introduced in the Union Budget 2018-19, Samagra Shiksha is a comprehensive program covering education from pre-nursery to Class 12 to ensure equitable learning outcomes.
- Supported by central funds under the Concurrent List (Art. 42, 45, 21A).

Integration of Schemes: It subsumes three earlier schemes:
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA): Focused on universal primary
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA): Aimed at secondary
Teacher Education (TE): Focused on training
Sector-Wide Development Approach: It streamlines implementation across all levels (state, district, and sub-district) instead of fragmented project-based objectives.
Alignment with SDGs: Ensures free, equitable, and quality education (SDG 1) while eliminating gender disparities and ensuring access for vulnerable groups (SDG 4.5).

Implementation:

It is a centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) implemented through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the State/UT level.
- SIS is a state-registered body implementing CSS and development programs.

UDISE+ is one of thelargest Management Information Systems initiated by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education, Government of India, covering more than 14.72 lakhs of schools, 98.08 lakhs of teachers, and 24.80 crores of children.
UDISE+ is an online portal facility created by DoSEL for record of data related to schools, teachers, enrolment, infrastructure, in respect of all recognized schools in the country.
In UDISE+ school wise data is captured through Data Capture Format (DCF).
- Each school has been provided with a login ID and password for facilitating online data compilation by respective schools.
- The Head Teacher/ Head Master of the school in all the States compiles the data, and it goes through a 3-stage validation/verification process, viz., Block/ Cluster level, District level, and State level.
- This data is finally certified by the State Project Director (SPD) at the State level.
- The data once certified by SPD of the respective State is considered as approved by the State.
- Therefore, data is entered in the UDISE+ portal by the respective State itself.

UDISE+ data is the only pan-India and most trusted database in school education in the country.

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