New Delhi: NITI Aayog released a policy report outlining a roadmap to improve school education quality across India through reforms in infrastructure, governance, digital learning and academic standards.
The report, titled ‘School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement’, was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery and CEO Nidhi Chhibber on May 6, 2026.
The study analysed India’s school education system over the past decade using data from UDISE+ 2024-25, PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, NAS 2017 and 2021, and ASER 2024. It also incorporated discussions from a national workshop on quality school education organised by NITI Aayog in February 2025.
According to the report, India currently has 14.71 lakh schools serving more than 24.69 crore students. The report highlighted improvements in electricity, sanitation facilities, digital classrooms and internet access across schools. It also noted better enrolment of girls and students from SC and ST communities.
The report stated that learning outcomes showed signs of recovery after the pandemic, especially in foundational literacy and numeracy. It credited initiatives such as NEP 2020, NIPUN Bharat Mission and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for supporting improvements.
School education quality roadmap outlines reforms
The report identified 11 major challenges affecting school education quality and proposed 13 policy recommendations to address them.
The recommendations included restructuring schools through composite models, improving teacher deployment, strengthening governance systems and expanding digital learning facilities. It also suggested reforms in pedagogy, assessment methods, vocational education and early childhood care.
NITI Aayog proposed a whole-of-society approach through State and District Task Forces on School Quality. The report also recommended stronger School Management Committees and greater focus on inclusive education.
Additionally, the roadmap included 33 implementation pathways with short, medium and long-term targets. More than 125 performance indicators were suggested to monitor progress at the national, state and local levels.
The report also featured case studies of successful education practices from different states and districts across the country.
