India has almost solved one part of the enrollment puzzle. The other remains stubbornly unresolved. New figures before parliament show that while almost every girl now enters and stays in primary school, a significant number still fail to complete secondary education. The transition from childhood to adolescence remains the moment when the educational journey comes to an abrupt halt for thousands.According to the Union Education Ministry’s response in Lok Sabha, 8% of secondary school girls will drop out before completing their education in 2025-26. This figure is an improvement from 12.6% in 2023-24 and 9.6% in 2024-25, but also exposes deeper concerns: secondary education remains India’s weakest link in retaining girls.The data, sourced from the government’s Unified District Information System for Education+ (UDISE+), was submitted by Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary in response to a question raised by MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer.
A success story until adolescence
The numbers tell two very different stories. At the primary school level, girls are almost universally reserved. The national dropout rate is only 0.1%, which is negligible. By the upper grades of primary school, this proportion rose slightly to 3.4%.Then there’s middle school. The dropout rate has more than doubled to 8%, nearly 80 times higher than at the primary level. The dramatic increase suggests that the challenge in India is no longer convincing families to send their daughters to school, but ensuring they stay in school as they enter adolescence.This pattern is surprisingly consistent across much of the country. Girls mostly stay in school in their early years. Some start leaving between 6th and 8th grade. But the biggest declines occur in grades 9 and 10, when many teenagers face social expectations, financial pressures and limited educational support.This raises a thorny question: If India has succeeded in getting girls into classrooms, why is it still struggling to keep them there?
Poverty alone does not explain this trend
The Centre’s responses, drawing on findings from the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24, identified several reasons why girls drop out of school.Some leave to supplement their family income. Others are forced to take on family responsibilities. In many cases, parents no longer believe that their daughters need higher education.Those explanations point to economic realities, but state-by-state data suggest the problem is more complex than simple poverty.Ladakh has the highest secondary school dropout rate for girls at 15.6%, followed by Assam and Karnataka (13.9% each), Gujarat (13.3%), Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland (12.4% each).The existence of relatively prosperous countries and geographically challenging regions shows that income is only part of the equation. Entry into secondary school, transportation, safety issues, social norms, early marriage and the burden of unpaid housework may be cross-cutting factors affecting educational continuity.
Toilets are no longer the biggest obstacle
The parliamentary issue that sparked the discussion centered on school sanitation, an issue long associated with girls’ education. In this regard, government data presents a more encouraging picture.According to UDISE+ 2025-26, 95.4% of public schools currently have separate functional toilets for girls, covering more than 950,000 schools across the country. Delhi, Goa and Chandigarh reported full coverage, while Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram lagged behind at 67.9% and 72.7% respectively.However, the Department for Education has not established a direct link between toilet infrastructure and school retention rates.In its reply, the ministry said there is no central study to show a direct causal link between the availability of toilets for girls and female school dropout rates.Instead, it highlights ongoing interventions by Samagra Shiksha, including providing financial support for sanitary napkin vending machines and incinerators in schools. It also mentioned a Ministry of Health initiative that reaches 53.9 million adolescent girls every month through menstrual hygiene awareness campaigns and the distribution of sanitary napkins.
Beyond Enrollment, Next Educational Challenges
India’s education system has made undeniable progress over the past decade. The gender gap in school enrollment has narrowed significantly, and universal primary education is increasingly a reality.But the latest UDISE+ data highlights a troubling fact: Retention, not enrollment, is becoming the country’s next education challenge.The transition into adolescence continues to expose structural inequalities that classrooms alone cannot address. Economic vulnerability, care responsibilities, gender norms and concerns about mobility often come together just as girls enter secondary school.The decline in dropout rates over the past three years is encouraging and reflects that policy interventions are having an impact. However, an 8% dropout rate still means that thousands of girls end their education before completing it.As policymakers celebrate rising enrollment and expanded infrastructure, the latest parliamentary data raises a bigger question: Can India truly claim to be successful in educating girls if one in every twelve girls ends the journey before graduating from secondary school?