POOR GER: MP Records Sharp Drop in Primary Enrollment While Northeast Surges Ahead

Bhopal:Madhya Pradesh has emerged as one of the few large Indian states showing a worrying decline in primary school enrollment, according to 2024–25 Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) May 2026 data released by NITI Ayog. The state’s primary GER slipped to 76.3%, one of the lowest in the country and a marked fall from a decade earlier, when it stood near 109.3%.That drop of roughly 30 percentage points is among the steepest declines nationally, eclipsed only by similar downturns in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.By contrast, several northeastern states and smaller Union Territories reported exceptionally high primary GERs — Meghalaya (180.7%), Manipur (140.5%), Mizoram (138.0%), and Tripura (117.9%) — suggesting widespread enrollment beyond the formal age cohort. Other states with GERs above 100% include Goa, Telangana, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. At the other end, Bihar (77.2%), Gujarat (79.6%), Uttar Pradesh (83.1%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (85.1%), and Rajasthan (88.3%) also rank poorly.The decade-long trend shows dramatic relative gains in small UTs and some Himalayan and northeastern states — including Lakshadweep, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu — while large Hindi heartland states have recorded steep relative declines. For Madhya Pradesh, the contraction in GER signals potential systemic issues in access, retention or data reporting that demand urgent policy attention.Madhya Pradesh parents association general secretary Prabodh Pandya said the fall in Madhya Pradesh’s primary GER from about 109.3% to 76.3% over the last decade is significant for three reasons: scale, equity, and policy implication.“Madhya Pradesh is one of India’s most populous states, a large absolute number of children are affected. A percentage-point shift here represents hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children moving out of the formal primary enrollment counts or being under-counted,” said Pandya.He added that decline raises equity concerns. “Regions with persistent poverty, limited school infrastructure, high out-of-school rates, or social barriers (gender, caste, and child labour) risk falling further behind,” he said.Distinguishing between these causes is critical: if children have stopped attending, targeted interventions — conditional cash transfers, midday meal strengthening, transport and school infrastructure expansion, and community outreach — are needed. If the decline stems from better data hygiene or migration of overage students into other categories, the policy prescription differs.The steep declines in large states like Madhya Pradesh Pradesh point to systemic retention problems or demographic shifts.Policymakers must combine household survey data, school-level attendance records, and migration studies to pinpoint causes.A senior teacher on the condition of anonymity suggested rapid district-level diagnostics to identify hotspots; strengthen outreach to marginalized communities; ensure school readiness programs and bridge courses for overage entrants.Besides, invest in teacher recruitment and training, expand access in remote areas, and address socio-economic drivers of dropout are the other suggestions raised by the teachers.