BENGALURU: Over 35% of Grade 5 students in low-fee private schools are unable to read a Class 2 text and 60% cannot solve a basic division problem, revealed a NITI Aayog report released recently.
The report listed several challenges and bottlenecks in the education system in India. Increased dependency on private education systems and change in perception of government schools is one of them.
It highlighted that issues like lack of quality teaching or teachers, absence of sufficient teachers for students and low levels of learning among children are not just limited to government schools, but exist in private schools too.
Despite these issues, lack of informed choice among parents and desire for English medium is forcing them to admit their children to private schools, especially in low-fee private schools.
“Private schools now constitute 44.01% of all secondary institutions (UDISE+ 2024-25), and enrolment in government schools has declined from 71% in 2005 to 49.24% in 2024-25. This shift is driven by the perception of private schools offering English-medium instruction, discipline and employability. However, evidence suggests these expectations are not consistently matched by learning outcomes,” the report stated.
It highlighted that there were no norms or regulations to monitor low-fee private schools across the country. “India’s school education system has seen a notable shift towards private institutions, particularly at the secondary level.
This change reflects parental aspirations for better outcomes, but the private sector’s rapid growth also raises concerns around quality, equity and regulation. Many low-fee private schools fall short of infrastructure norms under the RTE Act, lacking basic amenities such as toilets, playgrounds and clean drinking water,” it added.
In addition, teacher recruitment is often informal, with underqualified or untrained individuals filling full-time teaching roles. “Working conditions remain precarious, with low pay, job insecurity and limited access to professional development directly affecting classroom quality and student outcomes. Private schools, especially low-fee private institutions, operate in a largely under-regulated space.
There is no national system for periodic accreditation, performance benchmarking, or public disclosure of learning outcomes. Most states lack robust mechanisms to monitor compliance with minimum norms under the RTE Act 2009, including infrastructure, teacher qualifications and fee regulation,” the report stated.
The report stressed lack of informed parental choice in enrolling children in private schools. “In the absence of transparent school-level data such as pupil-teacher ratios, assessment results, or teacher credentials, parents often base their decisions on proxies like English-medium instruction or digital boards,” it said.
It provided recommendations to strengthen education in both government and private schools. The report recommended establishing state and district task forces on school quality, strengthening teacher deployment, workforce planning and time-on-task governance and improving teacher preparation, subject expertise and professional development.
More importantly, the report suggested integrating Artificial Intelligence for pedagogical innovation and system readiness. Government institutions, including DIETs, NCERT, MEiTY, SCERTs and others must develop national and state-level guidelines on ethical AI use, data privacy, authorship and transparency in educational contexts. At the same time, they must introduce AI awareness and literacy modules for students and teachers focusing on digital reasoning, problem-solving, pedagogy and more.
