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A life in India · 15 evidence records
School years
Who goes to school, stays, and completes a qualification?
Explore the ten life stagesHow to read these figures
School enrolments, retention rates and adult highest completed qualifications answer different questions. Secondary-and-above uses the published PLFS classification, including diploma/certificate as classified there.
1 Cr = 1,00,00,000 · 1 lakh = 1,00,000. Percentages, years, daily flows and rupees keep their own units. Showing full digits does not increase the source’s precision.
January–December 2025
Highest completed education: secondary
14.1%
Persons aged 15 years and above represented by PLFS 2025
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural
13.3%
Urban
15.6%
Male
15.7%
Female
12.4%
What this measures: Persons aged 15 years and above represented by PLFS 2025
Highest level successfully completed; categories are mutually exclusive. Graduate excludes postgraduate-and-above. Sample estimates, not present-year administrative counts. No crore counts calculated from unrelated population totals.
Persons aged 15 years and above represented by PLFS 2025
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural
11.8%
Urban
14.9%
Male
14.2%
Female
11.6%
What this measures: Persons aged 15 years and above represented by PLFS 2025
Highest level successfully completed; categories are mutually exclusive. Graduate excludes postgraduate-and-above. Sample estimates, not present-year administrative counts. No crore counts calculated from unrelated population totals.
Completed secondary and above, published Table 8 category
42.4%
Persons aged 15 years and above represented by PLFS 2025
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Rural
35.2%
Urban
57.1%
Male
47.8%
Female
37.2%
What this measures: Persons aged 15 years and above represented by PLFS 2025
Highest level successfully completed; categories are mutually exclusive. Graduate excludes postgraduate-and-above. Sample estimates, not present-year administrative counts. No crore counts calculated from unrelated population totals. Published combined category includes diploma/certificate as classified in this table. Distinct from the 67.8% attended-lowersecondary indicator.
Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
Breakdowns, source and meaning
What this measures: Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
A school-system administrative measure. Does not track one birth cohort to adulthood. Dropout, retention, transition, GER and examination pass rates have different denominators.
Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
Breakdowns, source and meaning
What this measures: Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
A school-system administrative measure. Does not track one birth cohort to adulthood. Dropout, retention, transition, GER and examination pass rates have different denominators.
Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
Breakdowns, source and meaning
What this measures: Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
A school-system administrative measure. Does not track one birth cohort to adulthood. Dropout, retention, transition, GER and examination pass rates have different denominators.
Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
Breakdowns, source and meaning
What this measures: Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
A school-system administrative measure. Does not track one birth cohort to adulthood. Dropout, retention, transition, GER and examination pass rates have different denominators.
Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
Breakdowns, source and meaning
What this measures: Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
A school-system administrative measure. Does not track one birth cohort to adulthood. Dropout, retention, transition, GER and examination pass rates have different denominators.
Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
Breakdowns, source and meaning
What this measures: Students/stage-specific administrative enrolment represented by UDISE+; NEP structure
A school-system administrative measure. Does not track one birth cohort to adulthood. Dropout, retention, transition, GER and examination pass rates have different denominators.
Pre-primary students whose medium matches the main home language
48%
Students aged 3–35 currently attending pre-primary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Same as main home language
48%
Hindi, different from main home language
4.2%
English, different from main home language
45%
Other medium / not reported
2.7%
What this measures: Students aged 3–35 currently attending pre-primary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Historical 2017–18 survey, not current 2025–26 share. Medium is the language of learning material for most non-language subjects; not home-language ability or language taught as a subject. Other-language columns exclude home-language matches: the English column does not include English-home-language students taught in English. Totals may differ 0.1 pp from rounding. Survey student controls are not contemporary population counts.
Official source ↗ · Table60, rural+urban/persons/Pre-primary; PDFp1163 / printedA-844
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-16.
July 2017–June 2018
Primary students whose medium matches the main home language
64.9%
Students aged 3–35 currently attending primary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Same as main home language
64.9%
Hindi, different from main home language
8.3%
English, different from main home language
23.2%
Other medium / not reported
3.5%
What this measures: Students aged 3–35 currently attending primary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Historical 2017–18 survey, not current 2025–26 share. Medium is the language of learning material for most non-language subjects; not home-language ability or language taught as a subject. Other-language columns exclude home-language matches: the English column does not include English-home-language students taught in English. Totals may differ 0.1 pp from rounding. Survey student controls are not contemporary population counts.
Official source ↗ · Table60, rural+urban/persons/Primary; PDFp1164 / printedA-845
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-16.
July 2017–June 2018
Upper primary/middle students whose medium matches the main home language
67.8%
Students aged 3–35 currently attending upper primary/middle education, rural+urban, all sexes
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Same as main home language
67.8%
Hindi, different from main home language
7.6%
English, different from main home language
21%
Other medium / not reported
3.6%
What this measures: Students aged 3–35 currently attending upper primary/middle education, rural+urban, all sexes
Historical 2017–18 survey, not current 2025–26 share. Medium is the language of learning material for most non-language subjects; not home-language ability or language taught as a subject. Other-language columns exclude home-language matches: the English column does not include English-home-language students taught in English. Totals may differ 0.1 pp from rounding. Survey student controls are not contemporary population counts.
Official source ↗ · Table60, rural+urban/persons/Upper primary/middle; PDFp1165 / printedA-846
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-16.
July 2017–June 2018
Secondary students whose medium matches the main home language
68.1%
Students aged 3–35 currently attending secondary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Same as main home language
68.1%
Hindi, different from main home language
7.6%
English, different from main home language
20.9%
Other medium / not reported
3.3%
What this measures: Students aged 3–35 currently attending secondary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Historical 2017–18 survey, not current 2025–26 share. Medium is the language of learning material for most non-language subjects; not home-language ability or language taught as a subject. Other-language columns exclude home-language matches: the English column does not include English-home-language students taught in English. Totals may differ 0.1 pp from rounding. Survey student controls are not contemporary population counts.
Official source ↗ · Table60, rural+urban/persons/Secondary; PDFp1166 / printedA-847
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-16.
July 2017–June 2018
Higher secondary students whose medium matches the main home language
62%
Students aged 3–35 currently attending higher secondary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Breakdowns, source and meaning
Within the same source and measure
Group
Value
Same as main home language
62%
Hindi, different from main home language
6.8%
English, different from main home language
29.1%
Other medium / not reported
2%
What this measures: Students aged 3–35 currently attending higher secondary education, rural+urban, all sexes
Historical 2017–18 survey, not current 2025–26 share. Medium is the language of learning material for most non-language subjects; not home-language ability or language taught as a subject. Other-language columns exclude home-language matches: the English column does not include English-home-language students taught in English. Totals may differ 0.1 pp from rounding. Survey student controls are not contemporary population counts.
Official source ↗ · Table60, rural+urban/persons/Higher secondary; PDFp1167 / printedA-848
Evidence reviewed 2026-10-16.
Questions still needing better evidence
What language or medium do children study in?
Not established in this edition
The historical 2017–18 survey breakdowns are shown. No current all-India language-of-instruction split has been verified here. Mother tongue, school board, school counts and pupil medium are different measures.
Evidence needed: A pupil-level national medium-of-instruction table with year, education stage and a stated enrolment denominator.
How many people have ever passed Class 10 or Class 12?
Not established in this edition
Adult completed-level survey percentages are shown. A compatible national headcount of all living Class 10/12 pass-outs has not been verified.
Evidence needed: A weighted attainment count for the same age group and survey year, with diplomas classified consistently.
Is dropout the share of all children without schooling?
No. UDISE stage-specific dropout measures movement through the school system. Educational attainment, retention and transition rates describe different groups and should not be substituted for one another.