For the first time, undergraduate enrolments decline in India
Official data from the All India Survey on Higher Education reveals a decline in undergraduate enrolments for the first time since 2011. Despite an increase in the number of higher education institutions, the growth in total student enrolment has slowed to its lowest level.
Why it matters
This trend suggests potential systemic issues in the accessibility or appeal of undergraduate education in India, impacting future workforce development.
Even as issues around education have momentarily taken centre-stage amid the protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and activist Sonam Wangchuk in Delhi, the reports based on the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for two years released together after inordinate delay by the Union Ministry of Education (MoE) earlier this month has largely gone unnoticed.
Importantly, the strange trend that has gone unreported is the inexplicable decline in the total number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses across the country.
Such a decline has happened for the first time ever since the Union government started publishing AISHE reports from 2011.
In the government’s own words, AISHE “serves as the primary source of official statistics on higher education in India and provides critical insights for policy formulation, planning, and monitoring of the sector”. Yet, the MoE inordinately delayed the release of these reports.
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