NEW DELHI: The drop in student enrollment in schools saw a significant and consistent decline in the critical sectors, according to the USIDE 2025-26 report released by the Ministry of Education, although the number of student retention declined slightly in the basic and preparatory sectors.UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) is the Indian government’s digital database for the education sector. Maintained by the Ministry of Education, it includes real-time statistics on school infrastructure, student enrollment, and teacher ratings.“The academic year 2025-26 has a significant decrease in the preparatory and secondary sectors compared to the previous years – 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25.“In planning, the number of children who dropped out decreased from 2.3 percent in 2024-25 to 1.8 percent in 2025-26, and at secondary school from 8.2 percent to 7.0 percent,” the report said.“This decline reflects the resilience of students and reflects the success of initiatives aimed at helping children engage in their studies.“Consistent declines in all areas show that schools are becoming more effective and responsive to the needs of students,” it added.The 2025-26 academic year has shown positive trends in student retention at the middle and high school levels, rising from 82.8 percent (2024-25) to 83.7 percent (2025-26) at the middle level and from 47.2 percent (2024-25) to 51.9 percent (2020-2020) at the high school level.“A gradual decline was observed on the basis of initiation and planning in 2025-26, following three consecutive years of change from 2022-23 to 2024-25.“One of the things that has contributed to the change, especially in high school, is the number of schools that teach high school education.“This increase has increased access and encouraged continued enrollment. Overall, the increase in retention rates is a strong indicator of educational progress and reflects the results of the strategies being monitored,” said the report.There has been a significant change in the enrollment ratio (GER) at the secondary level in the academic year 2025-26, rising from 68.5 percent in 2024-25 to 71.7 percent in 2025-26.The report is based on voluntary data entry by schools with UDISE+ codes for the academic year 2025-26 (reference year), with March 31, 2026, as the deadline.The data is filled in the online data format (DCF).For the first time in any academic year, the total number of school teachers across the country crossed 1.02 crore in 2025-2026, the report said.“Teacher augmentation is an important part of managing the student-teacher ratio, ensuring quality education, and addressing the disparity in teacher availability.”“The numbers have been increasing since 2022-23. There has been an 8.3 percent increase in teachers in the reporting year (2025-26) compared to 2022-23,” it said.