What has school education in India looked like over the past decade? From a “notable shift” towards private education and growing challenges in retaining children beyond grade 8, a NITI Aayog analysis of the school education system in India, released this month, points to trends and challenges. Using existing data from the Education Ministry’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), the National Achievement Survey and the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan (which the Centre used to measure learning outcomes from 2017 to 2024), and NGO Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report, here’s the snapshot of school education that the NITI Aayog analysis provides for the decade from 2014-15 to 2024-25. What has the overall school enrolment trend looked like? Overall, school enrolment has dropped by about 8% over the past decade: from 26.95 crore in 2014-15 to 24.69 crore in 2024-25.…