Parliament Question: Review of Implementation of National Education Policy

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1418 ANSWERED ON 09.02.2026 Review of Implementation of National Education Policy †1418. Dr. Anand Kumar:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has conducted any study or review to assess the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) and its academic, social and regional impacts;

(b) if so, the key findings of the said study/report along with the corrective measures taken so far, based thereon; and

(c) if not, whether the Government proposes to conduct a comprehensive impact assessment of the NEP and make necessary amendments or policy reforms based on its findings? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a) to (c): According to Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +) 2024- 25, India’s school education system saw measurable improvements across key educational indicators. It has data with nearly 14.72 lakh schools and nearly 24.7 Crore students from Foundational to Secondary level from varied socio-economic backgrounds. The number of teachers increased from 98.07 lakh to 1.01 crore, with total 54.82 lakh female teachers, reflecting a more gender-balanced workforce. The Pupil Teacher Ratio improved at all levels in 2024–25.

The ratios now stand at 10 at the foundational level, 13 at the preparatory level, 17 at the middle level, and 21 at the secondary level. These ratios are stronger than the NEP norm of 1:30, supporting closer attention to each student and better learning outcomes. The academic year 2024– 25 has seen a notable reduction in dropout rates across the Preparatory (from 3.7% to 2.3%), Middle (from 5.2% to 3.5%), and Secondary levels (from 10.9% to 8.2%) as compared to 2023-

24. Student retention improved across all levels in 2024–25. The foundational level increased from

98.0 percent to 98.9 percent. The preparatory level increased from 85.4 percent to 92.4 percent.

The middle level increased from 78.0 percent to 82.8 percent. The secondary level increased from

45.6 percent to 47.2 percent. The academic year 2024–25 recorded an increase in the Gross Enrolment Ratio at the middle and secondary levels. The middle level rose from 89.5 percent to

90.3 percent. The secondary level rose from 66.5 percent to 68.5 percent. This growth reflects enhanced access to education and increased student participation in higher grades.

Department of School Education & Literacy has developed Performance Grading Index, State

(PGI) by combining 73 indicators from various domains of school education viz., learningoutcomes, access outcomes, infrastructure, facilities, equity outcomes, etc. The PGI-State reports for the year from 2017-18 to 2023-24 can be accessed at

https://pgi.udiseplus.gov.in/#/statepgi/home. Similarly, Performance Grading Index, District is a district-level assessment tool which is used to compare and improve school education outcomes in a decentralized manner. It covers outcomes, classroom processes, infrastructure, safety, digital learning, and governance. The PGI-District reports for the year from 2018-19 to 2023-24 can be

accessed at https://dpgi.udiseplus.gov.in/#aboutPgi . “PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024” was conducted across India on 04.12.2024, to understand the baseline performance in development of competencies among the students at the end of the Foundational, Preparatory, and Middle stages (Grades 3, 6, and 9 respectively).

Nationwide over 21.15 lakh students and 2.70 lakh teachers from more than 74,229 schools across 781 districts from all States/UTs participated in the survey. National, State and District level report cards for PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 are available at

https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en.

In higher education, an annual web based ‘All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)’ is a comprehensive data source on higher education. AISHE 2022–23 (provisional) reports rise in number of University / University Level Institutions and Colleges from 760 to 1213 and from 38498 to 46624 respectively, as compared to AISHE 2014-15. Enrolment in higher education has risen from 3.42 crore in 2014-15 to 4.46 crore in 2022-23, with female enrolment from 1.57 crore to 2.18 crore. The enrolment of SC students is 69.13 Lakh in 2022-23 as compared to 46.07 Lakh in 2014.15. The enrolment of ST students has increased to 28.72 Lakh in 2022-23 from

16.41 Lakh in 2014-15. Total STEM enrolment stands at 99.76 lakh. Number of faculty has also increased from 14.73 lakh in 2014-15 to 16.64 lakh in 2022-23, with number of female faculty increased from 5.7 lakh to 7.36 lakh. Overall GER has improved from 23.7 in 2014-15 to 29.5 in 2022-23.

India’s standing in global rankings has significantly improved, with 54 Indian HEIs featured in the QS Rankings 2026, as compared to 11 in 2015. In QS Subject Rankings for 2025 included 79 Indian HEIs, an increase of 10 from the previous year's 69. As per QS Asia ranking 2026, 294 Indian Higher Education Institutions features.

Focus of NEP on research and innovation has propelled India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 48 in 2020 and currently being ranked at 38th place in 2025.

Education being in the concurrent list of Constitution, Centre and States are equally responsible for providing quality education to all. Accordingly, Ministry of Education, State Governments, education-related Ministries, the regulatory and implementing bodies of school and higher education such as University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, National Council for Teacher Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Central Board of Secondary Education, Universities/Colleges/Schools etc. have taken initiatives for implementation of NEP 2020.

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