For the first time, undergraduate enrolments decline in India

📌 Summary:

• The All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) reports for two years, released together after an inordinate delay by the Union Ministry of Education, show an unusual and largely unreported trend: a decline in the total number of students enrolled in undergraduate courses across India — the first such fall
• The data release went relatively unnoticed amid the ongoing student-led protests in Delhi
• The decline is described as "inexplicable" and runs counter to India's long-standing trend of rising higher-education enrolment, raising questions about demography, data quality, dropout and access

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 Governance / Social Justice — higher-education policy, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) trends, and the reliability and timeliness of official education statistics; links to GS1 Society (education and demographic change).

📝 Prelims Facts:

• AISHE (All India Survey on Higher Education) is conducted by the Union Ministry of Education to collect data on higher-education institutions, enrolment and teachers
• AISHE tracks the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education
• The reports covered two years and were released together after a delay

🔑 Key Term: Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) — the ratio of persons enrolled in a given level of education to the population of the corresponding official age group, expressed as a percentage.