Parliament Question: Measures to Expand Access to Education

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2343 ANSWERED ON 03.08.2026 Measures to Expand Access to Education 2343. Shri Adhikari Soumendu: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that school drop out rates in the country saw a notable decline in the 2025-26 academic year, according to the official UDISE+ (unified district information system for education plus) in the country, if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of policy adopted by Government in expanding access to education, strengthening school infrastructure, improving teacher availability and reducing school drop-out in the country; (c) whether it is a fact that being one of the largest school education systems in the world the Government proposes to develop residential schools in the country specially for the students of remote village areas, if so, the details thereof for West-Bengal; and (d) the details of proposal and action taken by the Government to develop and abolish the existing significant inter-State and wide regional disparities regarding use of modern technology and smart tuition facilities in the country particularly in the States of West Bengal, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar and Manipur having limiting equitable access to digital learning opportunities? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a): As per Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), the dropout rate during 2024-25 and 2025-26 at various educational stages are as under: Year Preparatory (class Middle (class VI to Secondary (class IX III to class V) class VIII) to XII) 2024-25 2.3 3.5 8.2 2025-26 1.8 3.6 7.0 (b) and (c): Under the Centrally Sponsored schemes like Samagra Shiksha, STARS and PM SHRI, States/UTs are supported for strengthening of existing government schools, and for creation and augmentation of infrastructure facilities like Additional Classrooms, Toilets for Boys/Girls/CWSN, Drinking Water, Electricity, Boundary Walls, Library, ICT and Digital Classrooms, based on the gaps determined from Unified District Information System for Education plus (UDISE+) database and proposals received from respective State/UT. The requirement of infrastructural facilities in schools is worked out every year by the respective State/UT on incremental basis depending on their need and priority and reflected in their Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B). These plans are then appraised and approved by Project Approval Board (PAB) in consultation with the States/UTs as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme, physical and financial progress of works sanctioned earlier and availability of budgetary resources. Also, The Central Government assist States and UTsthrough the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha and hot cooked meal provided from Balvatika to class 8 under Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Yojna. Financial assistance/grant is also provided to the States and UTs including West Bengal for various activities to reduce dropout and increase enrolment in Government schools, which include opening/strengthening of new schools up to Senior Secondary level, strengthening school infrastructure, setting up and up gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) upto class 12, setting up of residential schools/hostels named Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, hostels under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA), transport allowance, undertaking enrolment drives, seasonal hostels/residential camps, provision of skill education and ICT facilities in schools, providing free text books and free uniform, transport/escort facility, etc. PM SHRI Scheme has also been launched with an aim to develop more than 14,500 selected schools as exemplar schools that offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood, showcasing all the initiatives of NEP 2020 Education being a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, an overwhelming majority of the schools in the country comes under the administrative control of States/UTs. The recruitment, service conditions and rational deployment of teachers fall under the purview of the respective State Governments/UT Administrations. Recruitment of teachers is a continuous process, and vacancies arise on account of various factors such as retirement, resignation and increased requirement of teachers due to growth in student enrolment. The Central Government through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, provides financial assistance to the States and UTs to maintain appropriate Pupil- Teacher Ratio (PTR) for various levels of schooling, as per norms prescribed in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, as amended from time to time. (d): A comprehensive initiative called PM eVidya was initiated as part of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan' on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education across the country including the states of West Bengal, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar and Manipur under the aegis of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. States/Union Territories (UTs) collaborate with NCERT to utilise, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives as per their requirements in mother tongue/local/regional languages. PM eVidya includes 200 DTH TV Channels allotted to States/UTs/Autonomous Bodies (ABs)/Other Ministries in Government of India and 400 Radio channels to enable them to provide supplementary education as per their requirement in various Indian languages for classes 1-12. Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) is the Nation's One Nation, One Digital platform for providing quality e-content for school education in States/UTs along with QR coded Energised Textbooks (ETBs) for all grades. States/UTs/ABs have generated and contributed over 3.7 lakh content in mother local/regional languages enabling multilingualism. DIKSHA Offline supports areas with limited or no internet connectivity. The stakeholders have access to more than 450+ Virtual Labs and 100 Virtual skill labs on DIKSHA. ******