Chhattisgarh has recorded a worrying decline in girls’ enrolment across primary, upper-primary, secondary and higher secondary education over the past decade, according to NITI Aayog’s report Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement. The report highlights that while the state has improved in transition rates between school stages, enrolment and retention of girls continue to remain major concerns. At the primary level, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for girls in Chhattisgarh declined sharply from 106.61 in 2014-15 to 89.9 in 2024-25. The report placed Chhattisgarh among states performing below the national average, alongside Rajasthan (89.7%), Uttar Pradesh (83.9%), Gujarat (81.9%), Bihar (78.9%) and Madhya Pradesh (76.4%). A similar trend was reported at the upper-primary stage, where Chhattisgarh’s GER for girls fell from 100.22 to 93.0 over the decade. Though the decline was smaller compared to Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, the report noted that the state still reflected a concerning downward trend in girls’ participation. The report also highlighted infrastructural and staffing challenges in State’s education system. Chhattisgarh currently has 5,973 single-teacher schools with enrolment of nearly 2,13,237 students in such institutions.

 

Education experts believe the shortage of teachers and limited academic support in these schools could be one of the factors affecting retention and learning outcomes, particularly among girls in rural and remote areas. The situation worsens further at the secondary level. Chhattisgarh’s GER at the secondary stage dropped from 90.32 percent in 2014-15 to 77.5 percent in 2024-25, placing the state among those witnessing the steepest decline in the country. Only states such as Lakshadweep, Sikkim and Tripura reported sharper reductions. The report described secondary education as the “most fragile link” in the schooling cycle due to economic pressure, social barriers and weak institutional support. At the higher secondary level, girls’ participation in Chhattisgarh stood at only 60.8 percent in 2024-25. The state was grouped with Tripura at the same level and remained behind the national goal of equitable access to education. States like Chandigarh (122.8%), Puducherry (104.9%) and Goa (102.6%) reported much stronger participation. The report also pointed to rising concerns over student retention. Chhattisgarh recorded an upper-primary dropout rate of 3.4 percent and a secondary dropout rate of 15.3 percent in 2024-25, indicating that many students discontinue education before completing school. However, the state showed relatively strong performance in transition from primary to upper-primary education, recording a near-universal transition rate of 96.6 percent. Despite this, the report stressed that progression alone is not enough unless students, especially girls, continue and complete higher levels of schooling.