PANAJI
Government-run primary schools in Goa continue to struggle to attract new students, with just 20.8 per cent of all Class I admissions in the State going to government schools during the 2025-26 academic year, despite the State operating 639 government primary schools. In contrast, government-aided schools accounted for over 54 per cent of fresh admissions, according to data from the Union Education Ministry's UDISE+ 2025-26.
The data shows that of the total 20,919 new admissions in Class I during the last academic year, only 4,363 students enrolled in government primary schools, while 11,455 children took admission in government-aided institutions. Private unaided schools admitted 5,701 Class I students.
The trend mirrors the overall enrolment pattern in the State’s school education system, where government schools account for 52 per cent of all schools but educate only 13.74 per cent of the State's students, indicating a continuing preference among parents for aided and private institutions.
Across all classes from 1 to 12, the State has 2,97,337 students enrolled in schools. Of these, 40,848 students (13.74%) study in government schools, 1,61,587 (54.35%) are enrolled in government-aided schools, and 90,252 (30.35%) study in private unaided institutions. The remaining students are enrolled in other categories of schools.
The UDISE+ figures also indicate that government schools account for 639 of the State’s total 1,473 schools, while government-aided schools number 771 and private unaided schools 501.
The data further shows that the enrolment across all classes right from pre-primary to the higher secondary level in the government schools have remained at the lower side. Of the total 28,825 pre-primary students, 3,056 students were enrolled in the government schools, 16,748 in government aided and 9,021 in private unaided schools.
Similarly, at primary level overall, there were 1,12,161 students last year of which 21,105 were enrolled in the government schools, 68,455 in the government aided and 22,601 in the private schools. Further, at the elementary level, of the total 1,83,775 students, 29,182 were admitted in the government schools, 1,26,751 in the aided and 27,842 in the private unaided schools.
At the secondary and higher secondary level too, the government enrolment remained at much lower side. Of the total 46,526 students at secondary level, only 4,938 were found studying in the government schools while in case of higher secondary, the number stood at 3,722. There were 38,211 students enrolled at higher secondary schools across all managements in the last financial year.
