THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has emerged as one of the front-runner states in the country in terms of enrolment of students at the higher secondary (Plus Two) level, according to a recent report of the NITI Aayog titled ‘School Education System in India: A Temporal Analysis’.

As per the report, Kerala, with an 89.5% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in the higher secondary sector in 2024-25, was ranked just below Chandigarh, Puducherry and Goa. Notably, the state improved its higher secondary GER significantly by over 18.1 percentage points from the 71.4% recorded in 2014-15.

The report also showed that the participation of girls in higher secondary education was “high” in Kerala. It rose from 75.69% in 2014-15 to 91.7% in 2024-25. At the all-India level, the same rate improved from 45.99% in 2014-15 to 60.9% in 2024-25.

The state also figured in the top category in terms of arresting dropout at the secondary level, an area where most other states lag behind. The report noted that “since education beyond Class VIII is neither free nor compulsory, the financial burden falls on households, often leading to the withdrawal of children, particularly from low-income and marginalised families”.

Kerala, with a low dropout rate of 4.8% at the secondary level, was ranked fifth in the country in terms of containing attrition. The state showed a modest but steady improvement in bringing down the secondary-level dropout rate from 14.5% in 2014-15. Notably, the national average dropout rate at the secondary level stood at 11.5%.

In terms of infrastructure, the report showed that electricity supply, computer availability and internet connectivity in Kerala schools have improved considerably. In 2014-15, 95.2% of the state’s schools had power supply, 93.8% had computer facilities and only 25.5% had internet connectivity. Over the past decade, these figures improved to 99.7%, 99.5% and 91.7% respectively.

The state also improved in terms of functional smart classrooms. From just 15.2% of schools having smart classrooms in 2014-15, the rate improved to 59.7% in 2024-25. In terms of toilet facilities, 99.3% of schools had functional toilets for boys in 2024-25, while the rate was 99.5% for girls. The national average stood at 92.4% and 94% respectively.

This story has been written by Sovi Vidyadharan.