Published: Friday, August 29, 2025
UDISE+ 2024-25 Reveals Comprehensive School Education Progress
The Ministry of Education's UDISE+ 2024-25 report demonstrates substantial improvements across India's school education system, marking a historic milestone with over 1 crore teachers in classrooms for the first time. The comprehensive data reveal enhanced teacher-student ratios, improved infrastructure, reduced dropout rates, and better gross enrollment ratios, though government school enrollment continues to decline.
Teacher Strength Reaches Historic Milestone
For the first time since UDISE+ inception, total teacher numbers crossed the 1 crore mark in 2024-25, representing a 6.7% increase compared to 2022-23. This achievement significantly improves student-teacher ratios and addresses regional disparities in teacher availability. The Pupil-Teacher Ratio now stands at 10:1 at the foundational stage, 13:1 at the preparatory stage, 17:1 at the middle stage, and 21:1 at the secondary stage—all substantially better than NEP's recommended 30:1 ratio.
Single-teacher schools decreased by approximately 6% during the reporting year, while schools with zero enrollment witnessed a remarkable 38% decline. These improvements indicate better resource allocation and educational access optimisation across the country.
Government School Enrollment Challenges
Despite overall progress, government school enrollment continues declining, dropping to 24.69% in 2024-25 from 25.17% in 2023-24. According to senior education ministry officials, this trend primarily results from India's declining fertility rates, as confirmed by the National Health Family Survey 2024. Officials expect demographic adjustments following the March 2026 census, which will update baseline population data from the 2011 census.
Infrastructure and Digital Connectivity Expansion
The report reveals significant infrastructure improvements: 93.6% of schools now have electricity, 97.3% have girls' toilets, and 96.2% have boys' toilets. Hand washing facilities are available in 95.9% of schools, while safe drinking water access reaches 99.3%. Internet connectivity increased substantially from 53.9% in the previous year to 63.5% in 2024-25, with ₹6,000 crore allocated to states and UTs for basic facility saturation.
Improved Retention and Access Indicators
Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) improvements are notable: middle level GER increased from 89.5% to 90.3%, while secondary level GER rose from 66.5% to 68.5%. Dropout rates declined significantly across all levels—preparatory stage from 3.7% to 2.3%, middle stage from 5.2% to 3.5%, and secondary stage from 10.9% to 8.2%. Chandigarh demonstrates the lowest dropout rates due to higher numbers of composite schools offering classes 1-12.
IIT Admissions Exceed Sanctioned Capacity Across Multiple Institutes
The Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) report reveals that IIT admissions for 2025 exceeded sanctioned capacity at multiple premier institutes, with total seats allotted reaching 18,188 against 18,160 sanctioned seats—an excess of 28 seats. This anomaly reflects the Joint Seat Allocation Authority's practice of balancing withdrawals while ensuring maximum seat utilisation.
Institute-Specific Capacity Overruns
Several prominent IITs admitted more students than their sanctioned capacity: IIT Bombay allotted 1,364 seats against 1,360 capacity, IIT Delhi allocated 1,241 seats against 1,239 capacity, and IIT Kharagpur admitted 1,923 students against 1,919 sanctioned seats. IIT Kanpur exceeded capacity by five students (1,215 vs 1,210), while IIT Madras allotted 1,124 seats against 1,121 capacity.
The trend reflects steady IIT intake increases over recent years. Last year offered 17,760 seats with 17,695 filled, rising from 17,385 seats the previous year. Only once—in 2019—were no IIT seats left vacant.
Gender Representation and Future Expansion
Female representation improved marginally with 3,664 candidates securing seats, accounting for 20.15% of total allotments. Institutes including IIT Tirupati (21.57%), IIT Roorkee (20.50%), and IIT Madras (21.09%) recorded higher female participation than the national average.
The government announced plans to develop infrastructure for 6,500 additional students across five third-generation IITs—Palakkad, Dharwad, Jammu, Bhilai, and Tirupati—with seats added in phases over five years, primarily at the undergraduate level.
NEET PG 2025 Results Released for All India Quota Seats
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) released the merit list for All India 50% quota seats in MD, MS, PG Diploma, DNB, DrNB (direct six years), and NBEMS diploma courses for 2025-26. The NEET PG 2025 examination was conducted on August 3, with results declared on August 19.
Scorecard Availability and Counselling Process
All India 50% quota scorecards will be available for download from natboard.edu.in starting September 5, 2025, accessible for six months. NBEMS clarified that scorecards will not be sent individually to candidates. The merit list includes overall NEET PG 2025 ranks, All India 50% quota ranks, and category-wise ranks (OBC/SC/ST/EWS).
Candidates meeting minimum cut-off scores announced on August 19 are eligible for online counselling conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Candidature remains provisional, subject to verification of eligibility, identity, and academic credentials during admission.
Verification and Tie-Breaking Mechanisms
MBBS aggregate marks and FMGE scores provided in NEET PG applications will be verified against original credentials during admission. Scorecards will mention these aggregate marks wherever used for tie-breaking. If incorrect information is discovered that was used for tie-breaking, the NEET PG 2025 candidature will be cancelled.
JEE Advanced 2025 Reveals Persistent Institutional Preferences
JEE Advanced 2025 counselling data confirms IIT Bombay's continued dominance among top rankers, with 73 of the top 100 candidates choosing the institute—an increase from 72 in 2024 and 67 in 2023. This represents a consistent upward trend since 2020, when 58 top-ranked students selected IIT Bombay.
Top Institute Selection Patterns
IIT Delhi maintains its position as the second-most preferred institute among top 100 rankers, with numbers consistently hovering between 19-32 over six years. IIT Madras, despite being India's top-ranked engineering institute per NIRF, attracted only six top 100 rankers—its highest in five years compared to just two in 2024.
Among the top 5,000 JEE Advanced rankers, IIT Bombay leads with 755 students, followed by IIT Delhi (577) and IIT Madras (478). Other significant choices include IIT Kharagpur (517), IIT Kanpur (448), IIT Roorkee (429), and IIT Hyderabad (222).
Regional Performance and Conversion Rates
According to IIT Kanpur's report, 1,87,113 students registered for JEE Advanced 2025 across seven zones. The Delhi zone achieved the best conversion rate with 36.78% of qualified candidates (4,182 students) securing IIT admissions. The Hyderabad zone had the highest absolute admissions (4,363 students at 33.7%), while the Bombay zone secured 3,825 admissions.
Newer IITs showed limited representation among top rankers: IIT Jammu (4), IIT Bhilai (2), IIT Goa (3), IIT Palakkad (1), and IIT Dharwad (1) attracted only single-digit numbers from top-performing candidates.
Sources
- India Today. (2025, August 29). Lower birth rates behind decline in government school enrolments. Retrieved from https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/udise-2024-25-better-teacher-student-ratios-low-govt-enrolment-and-dropouts-2778582-2025-08-29
- The Indian Express. (2025, August 29). IIT-JEE Admission 2025: Seats allotted exceed sanctioned capacity in most IITs. Retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-admission-2025-seats-allotted-exceed-sanctioned-capacity-jic-report-jee-advanced-jeemain-10216485/
- The Indian Express. (2025, August 29). NEET PG 2025: Result for AIQ 50% seats released; scorecards from September 5. Retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/education/neet-pg-2025-result-aiq-50-per-cent-seats-scorecards-release-date-10215866/
- The Indian Express. (2025, August 29). IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi continue as top picks for JEE Advanced toppers. Retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/education/jee-advanced-2025-report-iit-delhi-iit-bombay-iit-madras-josaa-counselling-top-choice-jeemain-nirf-10215696/
