Madhya Pradesh has recorded 8.66 lakh fewer students enrolled in Classes 1 to 12 in the 2026-27 academic year compared with the previous year, according to data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE). The State Education Centre has issued show-cause notices to district project coordinators in 10 districts over low enrolment figures and incomplete student records.
As of October 13, enrolment stood at 1,33,65,225, compared with 1,42,31,833 in 2025-26, marking a decline of about 6.1%. The figures cover government and private schools across the state. Officials have been directed to explain the shortfall and complete pending data updates within the stipulated deadline.
The districts that received notices are Mauganj, Rewa, Vidisha, Maihar, Ratlam, Morena, Dhar, Barwani, Satna and Ashoknagar.
Student records remain incomplete
The decline in recorded enrolment has raised concerns about whether students have left school or whether incomplete data entry and verification have affected the figures. The available data does not establish how much of the decrease reflects actual dropouts.
The State Education Centre has instructed schools to verify students listed in the UDISE portal's “drop box” for the 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic sessions. Schools must establish each student's status and ensure that eligible students are entered into the appropriate school records.
A status report published on October 16 showed 8,31,375 students pending in transition records for Classes 1 to 12 and 8,45,522 students listed under the drop-box category. Officials have been warned that disciplinary action could follow if the required records are not updated within the deadline.
Student identity verification is another pending task. According to the reports, Aadhaar verification had been completed for 80.62% of students from nursery to Class 12, leaving a substantial number of records to be checked.
Officials asked to explain the shortfall
The notices require district project coordinators to account for the low enrolment figures and speed up the completion of student, school and teacher profiles on the portal.
The state has also reported backlogs in school and teacher records, indicating that the verification exercise extends beyond student enrolment alone. School Education Department Secretary Sanjay Goyal said the pace of UDISE data entry had improved compared with the previous year, but the process was continuing and further updates were expected.
The discrepancy has also prompted calls for an investigation. Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari has sought a high-level inquiry and the publication of district-wise and school-wise figures to establish why recorded enrolment has fallen.
The state will need to verify the records to determine how many children have actually left school and how many are missing from the current enrolment figures because their details have not been updated.
