NITI Aayog School Education Report: Learning Gaps and Reforms
Why in the news
NITI Aayog published a policy report taking stock of Indian school education. Access and infrastructure have improved, but learning levels, dropouts and teacher capacity remain weak, and it asks for a shift to foundational mastery.
Key facts
- Size: about 1.5 million schools, 247 million students; the world’s largest school network.
- Gain: electricity in schools up from 55% (2014-15) to about 92% (2024-25).
- Grade 8 reading proficiency has fallen over ten years, mainly in government schools.
- Higher-secondary GER stands at 58.4%; the move from secondary to higher-secondary is where many students drop out.
- Private schools often do no better than government ones on foundational learning despite higher fees.
- Report cautions that digital classrooms without strong basics may widen inequality.
| Indicator | Figure in report |
|---|---|
| Grade 3 students able to read a Grade 2 text | 27% |
| Grade 5 students able to solve basic division | 31% |
| Secondary dropout, West Bengal | About 20% |
| Secondary dropout, Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh | Over 18% |
| Higher-secondary GER | 58.4% |
| Single-teacher schools | About 1,00,000 (7%), 89% of them rural |
| Government secondary schools with laboratories | Only about half |
| Teachers scoring above 60% in subject competency tests | 10-15% |
| Teaching days lost to non-academic duties | About 14% |
Concerns
- Severe teacher shortages in states such as Bihar and Jharkhand.
- Teaching time lost to surveys, elections and administrative work.
- Multi-grade teaching by one teacher harms quality, especially in remote and rural areas.
Way forward
- Move from rote learning to foundational mastery.
- Adopt competency-based assessment.
- Match teaching to children’s actual learning levels.
- Treat AI and digital tools as complements, not substitutes, for basic learning.
Why it matters
- India’s demographic dividend and Viksit Bharat 2047 goals depend on the quality of human capital.
Background
- NITI Aayog: think tank set up on 1 January 2015 in place of the Planning Commission; the Prime Minister is ex officio chair.
- RTE Act, 2009: operationalises Article 21A (86th Amendment, 2002), free and compulsory schooling for ages 6-14.
- NEP 2020: approved July 2020; 5+3+3+4 structure, foundational literacy and numeracy, vocational education from Class 6, 6% of GDP target.
- NIPUN Bharat: launched 2021 to ensure every child reaches foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3 by 2026-27.
- PARAKH: National Assessment Centre under NCERT for standardised assessments.
- NAS: periodic NCERT-led government assessment for Grades 3, 5, 8 and 10; ASER: annual citizen-led survey by Pratham.
- Samagra Shiksha: integrated scheme from pre-primary to senior secondary; PM SHRI: launched 2022 to build about 14,500 model schools.
Exam angle
- Likely question: figures such as 27%, 31%, 58.4% and the 7% single-teacher share.
- Related bodies and schemes: NITI Aayog (1 January 2015), NEP 2020, NIPUN Bharat, PARAKH, Samagra Shiksha, PM SHRI.
- Reminder: ASER is by Pratham; NAS is run by NCERT; UDISE+ sits with the Ministry of Education.