The Crossbill News Desk
The Union Ministry of Education has raised concerns over a growing shift of students from government to private schools across several states, despite substantial public spending on school education.
During recent review meetings with states and Union Territories under the Samagra Shiksha scheme for the 2025-26 academic year, the Ministry highlighted a “disturbing trend” of declining enrolment in government schools, even in states with a significantly higher number of government-run institutions, The Indian Express reported.
In its interactions held between March and April, the Ministry expressed alarm over data showing increasing enrolment in unaided private schools in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Kerala.
The issue also surfaced during parallel discussions on the PM-POSHAN (midday meal) scheme, where a fall in government school enrolment was again attributed partly to a post-COVID shift to private schools and ongoing “data cleansing” exercises.
In Andhra Pradesh, official data from UDISE+ 2023-24 reveals that government schools constitute 73% of the state’s total 61,373 schools. However, these schools account for only 46% of total student enrolment, while private schools, making up about 25% of the total, attract over 52% of students.
The trend is similar in Telangana, where 70% of schools are government-run but enrol only 38% of students, with private schools accounting for over 60% of enrolment. Uttarakhand shows an even starker gap — with government schools forming 72% of total schools but enrolling just 36.7% of students, compared to 54.4% enrolled in unaided schools.
In Tamil Nadu, government schools account for 64% of total institutions but only 37% of student enrolment. The Ministry urged the state to focus on building a strong “government school brand” to attract more students.
In Maharashtra and Kerala, the Ministry pointed out a drop in enrolment in government and aided schools between 2018-19 and 2023-24, with the states responding that the changes were partly due to Aadhaar-based data verification.
The situation is similar in smaller Union Territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Ladakh, Puducherry, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, where private school enrolment outpaces that of government institutions. Officials have flagged this as a matter of concern.
According to UDISE+ 2023-24 data, over 9 crore students — 36% of the total 24.80 crore — are currently enrolled in private schools. This marks an increase from 33% in 2022-23 and 2021-22, though slightly below the 37% recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20.
During recent review meetings with states and Union Territories under the Samagra Shiksha scheme for the 2025-26 academic year, the Ministry highlighted a “disturbing trend” of declining enrolment in government schools, even in states with a significantly higher number of government-run institutions, The Indian Express reported.
In its interactions held between March and April, the Ministry expressed alarm over data showing increasing enrolment in unaided private schools in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Kerala.
The issue also surfaced during parallel discussions on the PM-POSHAN (midday meal) scheme, where a fall in government school enrolment was again attributed partly to a post-COVID shift to private schools and ongoing “data cleansing” exercises.
In Andhra Pradesh, official data from UDISE+ 2023-24 reveals that government schools constitute 73% of the state’s total 61,373 schools. However, these schools account for only 46% of total student enrolment, while private schools, making up about 25% of the total, attract over 52% of students.
The trend is similar in Telangana, where 70% of schools are government-run but enrol only 38% of students, with private schools accounting for over 60% of enrolment. Uttarakhand shows an even starker gap — with government schools forming 72% of total schools but enrolling just 36.7% of students, compared to 54.4% enrolled in unaided schools.
In Tamil Nadu, government schools account for 64% of total institutions but only 37% of student enrolment. The Ministry urged the state to focus on building a strong “government school brand” to attract more students.
In Maharashtra and Kerala, the Ministry pointed out a drop in enrolment in government and aided schools between 2018-19 and 2023-24, with the states responding that the changes were partly due to Aadhaar-based data verification.
The situation is similar in smaller Union Territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Ladakh, Puducherry, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, where private school enrolment outpaces that of government institutions. Officials have flagged this as a matter of concern.
According to UDISE+ 2023-24 data, over 9 crore students — 36% of the total 24.80 crore — are currently enrolled in private schools. This marks an increase from 33% in 2022-23 and 2021-22, though slightly below the 37% recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20.
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