Government’s Own Data Indicates Deep Faults in School Education Policy

A Survey Reveals Reliance on Private Spending and Gender, Regional Gaps

August 28, 2025

The results of the central government’s education survey show that families continue to carry most of the financial burden of school education, with low government support despite high enrolment in public schools. The data also reveals stark differences in the quality of education and resources available to children, depending on their location, gender and type of school.

The Comprehensive Modular Survey: Education, 2025, based on data from over 52,000 households and 57,000 students across the country, shows that 55.9 percent of students in India are enrolled in government schools.

In rural areas, this rises to 66 percent, compared to 30.1 percent in urban areas.

Private unaided schools, which charge the highest fees, account for 31.9 percent of enrolments nationwide.

Despite the large presence of government schools, household spending on students enrolled in them remains very low. The average per-student household expenditure in government schools is 2,863 rupees annually, compared to 25,002 rupees in non-government schools, as highlighted by The Print.

Only 26.7 percent of students in government schools reported paying course fees, as most government schools do not charge formal tuition or course fees for eligible students. However, this figure climbs to 95.7 percent in non-government institutions and 98 percent in urban private unaided schools. Among government school students in rural areas, 25.3 percent reported paying course fees.

Across all school types, the largest expense is on course fees, averaging 7,111 rupees per student per year. Urban households pay far more than rural ones, with an average urban course fee of 15,143 rupees compared to 3,979 rupees in rural areas.

The data also show that 27 percent of students were enrolled in private coaching during the academic year, with this rate increasing with the level of education. In higher secondary, the average urban household spent 9,950 rupees on coaching per student, while the figure for rural households was 4,548 rupees. Nearly all students surveyed (95 percent) relied on family members to finance education costs, while only 1.2 percent identified government scholarships as their main source of funding.

The government’s failure to fund or regulate essential aspects of education delivery has created an unequal system that privileges those with the ability to pay. Although government schools remain the backbone of enrolment in rural India, the low per-student expenditure reported by families indicates a lack of quality services. Education here remains formally free, but the low cost reflects poor classroom delivery, weak learning outcomes and minimal resource availability.

At the same time, the data show that families are increasingly turning to private coaching to compensate for classroom gaps. This phenomenon is not limited to higher-income groups. A quarter of students in rural areas are enrolled in coaching, with average spending rising with education level. This indicates a widespread belief among parents that public schooling alone cannot prepare their children for exams or career paths. The government’s education policy has not addressed this parallel learning system, nor has it introduced regulatory or support mechanisms to integrate or improve it.

The survey also points to a persistent urban-rural divide.

Urban households spend nearly three times more on school education than rural households. While part of this can be attributed to cost-of-living differences, it also indicates structural disadvantages in rural schools that families try to overcome through external expenditure. Urban students have greater access to private schools and coaching centres, while rural families often pay less because fewer quality services are available to purchase. The disparity in spending, therefore, correlates with unequal opportunities rather than frugality or preference.

Gender disparities are also evident.

On average, families spend 13,470 rupees per year on a boy’s schooling and 11,666 rupees on a girl’s. This is partly because boys are more often enrolled in private schools, which charge higher fees, while girls are more likely to remain in government schools.

According to UDISE (Unified District Information System for Education) 2023–24, girls made up 50.95 percent of government school enrolment. Without deliberate policy intervention, this trend will continue to limit girls’ access to quality education, even where enrolment rates are high.

The state-level data show extreme differences in parental spending, with households in Haryana spending 25,720 rupees per student annually and those in Bihar spending 5,656 rupees, as noted by The Print. Such gaps cannot be explained by income variation alone. They reflect decades of uneven investment and oversight. The central government has not instituted any framework that ensures minimum per-student spending or quality standards across states, leading to educational fragmentation that reinforces regional inequality.

Finally, the data show that public education has become increasingly residual, left for those with no better option. The government plays a declining role in financing even basic education. With only 1.2 percent of students identifying scholarships as their primary funding source, the system relies almost entirely on household income. This undermines the principle of education as a public good and moves it towards a private transaction shaped by affordability rather than entitlement.

The survey findings point to a gap between the legal promise of the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the lived reality of schooling in India. The Act guarantees free and compulsory education for all children aged 6 to 14, but the data shows that families still spend significant amounts on basic schooling, including in government schools.

With 95 percent of students relying on household income to fund their education and only 1.2 percent citing government scholarships as their main source of support, the state is falling short of its legal obligation to ensure universal, equitable and genuinely free education.

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