Delhi shines in national school performance index, but enrolment and retention gaps remain

Delhi has been placed among the better-performing States and Union Territories in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2025-26, reflecting strong performance across key school education indicators.

However, the review also identified declining foundational enrolment and lower retention at the secondary level, highlighting areas where targeted interventions will be needed to sustain educational progress.

Delhi has secured a place among the country's better-performing States and Union Territories in the Union Ministry of Education's Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2025-26.

The achievement reflects the capital's strong performance across several education indicators.

However, the latest assessment also raises concerns over falling enrolment among younger children and lower student retention at the secondary level.The findings suggest that while Delhi has maintained a strong overall education system, important challenges remain that could affect learning outcomes in the years ahead.Delhi placed in one of the top performance bands The Performance Grading Index is the Centre's annual assessment of school education across States and Union Territories.

It measures performance using 70 indicators spread across learning outcomes, access to education, school infrastructure, equity, governance, and teacher education.Unlike conventional rankings, the PGI places States and UTs into performance categories based on their scores.

For 2025-26, Chandigarh emerged as the only State or Union Territory to reach the Uttam-3 category.

Delhi was placed in the next performance band alongside Punjab, Kerala, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.

No State or Union Territory managed to enter the top three grades, Utkarsh, Uttam-1, or Uttam-2.The result indicates that Delhi continues to perform strongly on several school education parameters despite facing challenges in student participation.Foundational enrolment records a decline One of the biggest concerns highlighted in the report is the decline in enrolment among the youngest learners.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the foundational stage, covering pre-primary to Class 2, fell from 104.8 in 2023-24 to 102.8 in 2024-25.The Ministry has advised Delhi to closely examine class-wise enrolment trends and make better use of data available through the Poshan Tracker, which records children enrolled in Anganwadi centres.

Officials believe this could help identify gaps before children enter formal schooling.Strengthening enrolment at the foundational stage is considered essential because early education plays a key role in improving long-term learning outcomes.Higher classes show improvement Though enrolment reduced for young children, there was an improvement in enrolment at higher levels of education.

The GER at the preparatory level (III-V classes) was raised from 51 to 52.2.

In the case of middle level (VI-VIII classes), it showed a considerable increase from 106.8 to 115.

There was also a slight improvement in the case of secondary level (IX-XII classes), where the GER increased from 91 to 91.7.However, even after such improvements, it has been recommended by the Ministry that there should be more attempts on the part of Delhi to enhance the enrolment at the foundational and secondary levels of education.Secondary-level retention remains a concern The report also points to a significant challenge in keeping students in school during the later years of education.

Delhi recorded a 100 percent retention rate at the foundational, preparatory, and middle stages.

However, retention dropped to 86 per cent at the secondary level.The Ministry has described this decline as an area requiring immediate attention.

It has advised authorities to conduct a detailed study into the reasons students leave school during the transition to secondary education.The review also notes that enrolment in government schools has declined over the past three years, making student retention an important policy priority.Four Delhi districts among top performers The district-level assessment offered encouraging signs for the capital.

Four districts from Delhi featured among the 19 districts across India that achieved the Uttam-2 performance grade in the 2025-26 assessment.Overall, the Ministry reported that 462 districts improved their scores compared with the previous year, although no district reached the highest Utkarsh category.Data-driven assessment The Performance Grading Index draws information from multiple official education databases, including UDISE+, PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, the PM POSHAN portal, PRABANDH, and Vidyanjali.According to the Ministry of Education, the objective of the grading framework is not to create competition through rankings but to help States, Union Territories and districts identify strengths, address weaknesses, and improve the quality of school education through evidence-based planning.(With inputs from PTI)Ready to navigate global policies?

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