India's school education system serves 24.8 crore students across 14.72 lakh schools with 98 lakh teachers, revealed the Economic Survey 2024-25 tabled in Parliament today. Of these, government schools comprise 69 per cent of the total, enrolling 50 per cent of students and employing 51 per cent of teachers, while private schools account for 22.5 per cent, enrolling 32.6 per cent of students and employing 38 per cent of teachers.
The total higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country have increased by 13.8 per cent from 51,534 in 2014- 15 to 58,643 in 2022-23. As per the survey, the number of IITs in 2023 were recorded 23 as against 16 in 2014, 20 IIMs as compared to the 13 IIMs in 2014 and 780 medical colleges in 2024-25 in as compared to 387 medical colleges in 2013-24. The number of universities have also increased from 723 in 2014 to 1,213 in 2024.
The survey further highlighted that the percentage of schools having computers have increased from 38.5 per cent in 2019-20 to 57.2 per cent in 2023-2024. In addition, the percentage of schools with internet facility has increased from 22.3 per cent in 2019-20 to 53.9 per cent in 2023-2024.
School dropout rates have also shown a promising result with a steady decline in recent years owing to improvements in basic facilities, including sanitation, and information and communication technologies (ICT) availability. The dropout rate recorded was 1.9 per cent for primary, 5.2 per cent for upper primary and 14.1 per cent for secondary levels.
To cater to the rapidly evolving job market, the educational institutions at various levels are introducing courses in the new age technology. There has been increasing integration of technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the education system. In an effort to leverage technology towards enhancing the capabilities of educators and preparing them for the demands of the 21st century, the government has launched TeacherApp, a cutting-edge digital platform.
The survey highlighted innovation like peer teaching to attain financial literacy and numeracy targets
Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2024-25 in the Parliament today. The Survey stated that education and human capital development are among the foundational pillars of development and the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) is built upon this principle.