The Indian education system is one of the largest in the world, with almost 1.5 million (15 lakh) schools for over 265 million (26.5 crore) children from pre-primary to senior secondary levels across different socio-economic backgrounds*. Despite this staggering figure, India has a projected literacy rate of only 77.7%** (Literacy is defined as literate people aged 7 or older).
The UDIDE+ 2021-22 data shows that the overall school dropout rate of students between primary and secondary levels is only 1.5%, but when we look specifically at the secondary school dropout rate, it is much higher at 12.6%.