Rajasthan school enrolment drops by over 8.4 lakh under BJP rule, govt schools worst affected

Under BJP rule, student enrolment in Rajasthan schools has dropped by more than 8.4 lakh under the Bhajan Lal Sharma government. The decline in enrolment over the past two academic sessions has been sharper in government-run schools, according to the UDISE (Unified District Information System for Education) report. UDISE is a national centralised database for the school education sector.

"The sharp drop in enrolment is one of the biggest scams under the Bhajan Lal government. The sudden disappearance of some nine lakh students from our schools demands an immediate probe as it's a social issue and is a poor reflection of the BJP government. The decline in enrolment suggests poor governance, particularly in the state's education department," said Govind Singh Dotasara, PCC president and a former education minister.

Dotasara, who served as education minister under Ashok Gehlot, claimed that enrolment remained above 1.74 crore when the Congress was ruling the state.

Citing figures, Dotasara stressed that enrolment stood at 1.79 crore in 2018-19 and that the Congress government's endeavour to increase enrolment resulted in the figure remaining at 1.79 crore in 2020-21. Despite the pandemic, enrolment stood at 1.77 crore in 2022-23.

Dotasara said that post-Covid, enrolment rose once again in 2023-24. However, after the BJP assumed office in December 2023, enrolment fell to 1.67 crore and has since continued to decline.

Dotasara said the state's education department, under Education Minister Madan Dilawar, has focused on doing away with plans aimed at improving education standards in primary and secondary schools. He cited the closure of English-medium Mahatma Gandhi schools, claiming that around 300 such schools have been shut so far.

There are over 1.06 lakh schools in the state and more than 7.9 lakh teachers, yet the drop in enrolment under the BJP government remains noticeable.

Nationally, school enrolment declined from 24.8 crore in 2023-24 to around 24.6 crore in 2024-25 before recovering marginally to over 24.7 crore in 2025-26. Rajasthan, however, continued to record a year-on-year fall sharper than the national trend.

Government schools in the state bore the brunt of the decline, with enrolment dropping from 83.8 lakh in 2023-24 to 77.8 lakh in 2024-25 and further to 74.5 lakh in 2025-26. Thus, there has been a loss of 9.3 lakh students since the BJP government came to power, a staggering figure.

In 2023-24, the dropout rate in the Class 9-12 category was 10.6 per cent for boys and 8 per cent for girls.

Interestingly, while government schools were losing students, private schools recorded an increase of 11.3 lakh enrolments over the past two academic years.

"The enrolment in private schools is outnumbering the enrolment in government schools because of quality education, and private schools, in spite of charging higher fees, are attracting both boys and girls. It's because of the poor education imparted, and moreover, private schools impart education both in Hindi and English.

"The BJP government has been boasting of upgrading school infrastructure, expanding digital classrooms and rolling out National Education Policy reforms. But more than a thousand schools in the state are in dilapidated condition and over a dozen students were killed when the roof of a school building collapsed. Little budgetary allocation has been made to repair school buildings.

"Several thousand new teachers were appointed and the process of such appointments is still going on. But despite high salary structures, these teachers have not helped the government improve enrolment. School education has been saffronised under the BJP government," said J.K. Jain, a parent.

The sharp fall in enrolment is a reflection of the state of public education, with parents increasingly opting to send their children to private schools.

"Earlier, the shortage of teachers in government schools and the politics of teachers' transfers took its toll on education standards in government schools. Weak implementation of the Right to Education Act has affected the quality of education. Education in the state is fully politicised and the heavily paid teachers have no commitment towards students. All this led to the decline in enrolment," said Damodar Goyal, president of the Society for Private Unaided Schools, Rajasthan.

The UDISE+ report also highlighted gaps in school staffing. There are 7,200 schools with 1.78 lakh students that are run by just one teacher.

Surprisingly, the report noted that there were 140 schools functioning in the state with no students despite 189 teachers being posted there. The figures point to poor administration in the education department.

The number of single-teacher schools rose by 1,083 in a year, from 6,117 in 2024-25 to 7,200 in 2025-26.

Under the BJP regime, higher education has also recorded a decline in enrolment. For the second consecutive year, enrolment has dropped by 4.23 per cent. The decline among boys has been recorded at 5.67 per cent.

There are 3,943 colleges in the state and the total enrolment stands at 12,55,809. The student density is 513 per college.

Kul Bhushan Kothari, a former UN official and education expert, said stagnant learning levels, weak job prospects and pressure to earn were pushing youths towards gig work.

"Learning levels in the state have not improved much in the past three years, which makes parents feel that engaging boys to earn for the family is a better utilisation of resources. Parents have lost faith in today's education and are pushing their boys to earn through gig work and other odd jobs," Kothari added.