July 21, 2025: The Centre has informed Parliament that the number of students enrolled in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh decreased in 2023 and 2024 in comparison to the previous year. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Education Minister, told the Lok Sabha that enrollment in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir fell from 14,54,668 in 2022-23 to 14,21,643 in 2023-24. "Similarly, Ladakh saw a drop from 28,667 students in 2022-2023 to 26,275 students in 2023-2024." He stated that the transition from aggregated data to individual student-level data collection by the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) from 2022 to 2023 may be the reason for the drop in enrollment in some states and UTs, such as J&K and Ladakh. He listed several Samagra Shiksha interventions to address enrollment issues, such as residential schools, free textbooks and uniforms, transportation facilities, special hostels, and midday meals under the PM POSHAN program. He stated that states and UTs continue to receive financial assistance to implement these interventions and promote school participation.