Women's Higher Education Enrolment Hits 2.23 Crore, Centre Says

Pradhan listed several government initiatives. The Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, launched in June 2023 with an outlay of ₹12,926.10 crore, funnels financial support to state universities and colleges, especially in underserved regions. Districts with low enrolment, poor gender parity and weak representation of women get priority. The government also added dedicated seats for women at the Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology, lifting female enrolment in those institutions from below 10% to over 20%. Women now account for roughly 43% of enrolment in STEM courses, one of the highest shares globally, the minister said.

The policy itself is being rolled out as an ongoing process. A comprehensive review will not happen until the policy is fully operational, likely during the 2030-2040 decade. No separate implementation report card has been released; progress is tracked through the Unified District Information System for Education Plus, which also showed total school enrolment of 24.72 crore students in 2025-26. The Net Enrolment Ratio improved at primary, middle and secondary levels compared with the prior year, and the Gender Parity Index remained at or above 1.0 at every stage.

In a separate reply, Pradhan said the NEP implementation has accelerated over the past six years. More than 13,000 PM SHRI schools have been selected, 728 Eklavya Model Residential Schools have been approved, and nationwide programmes have been launched for foundational literacy, teacher training and digital learning. The NIPUN Bharat Mission, focused on foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 2, includes a three-month school-readiness programme called Vidya Pravesh, teacher training under NISHTHA-FLN, digital resources on the DIKSHA platform, the Jaadui Pitara learning kit, and primers in 121 local languages.