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School Education: NITI Aayog Releases Policy Roadmap

  • 08 May 2026

On 6th May 2026, NITI Aayog released a policy report, titled “School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement”, outlining reforms to improve quality, equity, and learning outcomes in India’s school education system.

Key Points

  • Comprehensive Education Report: The report presents a decade-long assessment of India’s school education system covering enrolment, infrastructure, inclusion, governance, and learning outcomes.
  • Largest School System: India currently has 14.71 lakh schools serving over 24.69 crore students, making it the world’s largest school education system.
  • Data Sources Used: The analysis is based on UDISE+ 2024-25, PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, NAS 2017 & 2021, and ASER 2024 data.
  • Infrastructure Improvements: The report highlighted major progress in electricity access, sanitation facilities, inclusive infrastructure, internet connectivity, computers, and smart classrooms.
  • Equity and Inclusion Gains: Improvements were noted in girls’ participation and enrolment of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students.
  • Learning Recovery After Pandemic: Foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) outcomes have shown recovery after COVID-19 disruptions, supported by initiatives like National Education Policy 2020, NIPUN Bharat Mission, and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.
  • 11 Major Challenges Identified: The report identified key systemic and academic issues affecting school education quality.
  • 13 Reform Recommendations: Recommendations include composite school reforms, governance strengthening, teacher development, digital learning expansion, equity measures, and AI-based pedagogical innovation.
  • Academic Reforms Focus: The roadmap emphasises foundational learning, holistic education, vocational integration, improved pedagogy, and assessment reforms.
  • Implementation Framework: The report proposes 33 implementation pathways across short-, medium-, and long-term timelines.
  • Performance Monitoring: More than 125 measurable indicators have been suggested to track reform progress and educational outcomes.