Delhi Among Top India States School Education Despite Low Secondary Student Retention Numbers

Delhi has been placed among the country’s better-performing States and Union Territories in the latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2025-26 released by the Union Ministry of Education. However, official education data linked to the assessment also point to areas that require attention, including a decline in enrolment at the foundational stage and a drop in student retention at the secondary level.

The PGI evaluates the performance of States and UTs across 70 indicators covering learning outcomes, access, infrastructure, equity, governance, and teacher education. Instead of assigning ranks, the Ministry groups States and UTs into performance grades. This year, Chandigarh emerged as the only State or UT in the highest-performing ‘Uttam-3’ category. Delhi was placed in the next performance band alongside Punjab, Kerala, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu. No State or UT achieved the top three grades — Utkarsh, Uttam-1 or Uttam-2.

While Delhi continued to perform well overall, the education review highlighted mixed trends in school participation. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the foundational stage, which covers pre-primary to Class 2, declined from 104.8 in 2023-24 to 102.8 in 2024-25. Officials advised the Union Territory to take steps to improve enrolment at the foundational level by analysing class-wise trends and using data from the Poshan Tracker, which records enrolment of children in Anganwadi centres.

The report also flagged concerns over student retention. Delhi recorded a retention rate of 100 per cent at the foundational, preparatory, and middle stages. However, the figure dropped to 86 per cent at the secondary stage.

The Ministry described this decline as an area of concern and advised authorities to undertake a detailed analysis of the reasons behind student dropouts, particularly during the transition to secondary education. It also noted that enrolment in government schools has declined over the past three years.

The district-level PGI showed encouraging signs for the capital. Four Delhi districts featured among the 19 districts across the country that reached the Uttam-2 performance grade in 2025-26. Overall, the Ministry said 462 districts improved their scores compared with the previous year, although no district achieved the highest ‘Utkarsh’ grade.

The PGI framework is based on data from multiple official sources, including the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, the PM POSHAN portal, PRABANDH and Vidyanjali. According to the Ministry, the grading system is intended to help States and districts identify strengths and gaps instead of competing through numerical rankings.