For years, the Indian education system has been built around a single moral and political imperative: to get girls into schools, keep them there, and close the gender gap. In Delhi, that story has not only reached its desired conclusion, but has taken an unexpected turn.The Economic Survey of Delhi 2025-26 reveals a reality that seemed impossible not long ago. At every stage of schooling, girls are now enrolling in greater numbers than boys. This is not a shock or a statistical quirk. It is a pattern, clear and consistent. And like all structural changes, it brings with it a more complex question to answer.
A clear lead from the early years to the exit point
The data reads less like volatility and more like a consistent assertion of presence. At the primary level, the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for girls is 107.2, comfortably ahead of boys at 97.4. Go up to upper primary, and the gap widens, 122 for girls compared to 113.1 for boys.By the time students reach secondary school, the pattern persists: 104.7 for girls, 98 for boys. In higher secondary, where participation generally begins to decline, the gap becomes more pronounced, 87.2 for girls compared to 78.7 for boys.The Net Enrollment Ratio (NER), which removes overage and underage distortions, tells the same story with even greater clarity. Girls in Delhi have effectively achieved universal enrollment at the primary level (100), while boys lag behind at 90.5. In higher secondary, the gap remains stark: 68.8 for girls, 58.8 for boys.
Capitals ahead of the curve, but not without fault lines.
Delhi’s education system, as a whole, outperforms the national average by a significant margin. At the primary level, its combined GER is 101.8 against the national 90.9. In upper primary, the gap is even wider, 117.3 in Delhi versus 90.3 across India.These are not additional benefits. They reflect a system that has expanded access with intent and consistency. But behind this success lies an imbalance that is increasingly difficult to ignore. While Delhi has progressed overall, the boys have not kept up with the progress.
Missing clarity and uneasy implications
Surprisingly, the survey does not credit any single policy or intervention for this change. There is no single scheme to point to, no ultimate reason to isolate.This absence is showing. This suggests that the increase in girls’ enrollment is the cumulative result of years of political strife, social changes, and perhaps a growing recognition of the value of education among families. But it also leaves a gap when it comes to understanding the other side of the equation.If girls have advanced, why have boys slowed down? The data does not answer this. But that makes the question inevitable.
Boys on the margins of a growing system
This gap is most visible and most alarming at the higher secondary level. A difference of nearly nine percentage points is not merely academic at this stage. It shapes who goes to college, who enters the workforce early, and who slips through the cracks.The survey offered no definitive explanation, but the implications are hard to rule out. Do boys leave school first? Are economic pressures pushing them to work? Or is there a deeper connection with the schooling system itself?For a city that has invested heavily in education, these are not peripheral concerns. They go to the heart of what accessibility really means.
Learning outcomes: A system that recovers, but slowly
Survey results on learning levels add another layer to the story. In Class 3, Delhi students lag behind the national average in both language and mathematics, an early indication that basic learning is weak.Yet by Class 9, the same system produces results that surpass national standards in all subjects. It’s a curious arc, suggesting flexibility, perhaps even course correction, but also hinting at uneven learning experiences in the early years. The system seems to be able to recover, but without a delayed start.
Attendance is strong
One area where Delhi offers little cause for concern is attendance. Data from the 75th National Sample Survey shows that students in the capital attend school at rates higher than the national average at all levels.This is not a system that is struggling to retain students. It is one that has largely succeeded in doing so. The challenge is first, who enters, and who continues.
Big account
What Delhi presents today is not crisis but change. The age-old problem of exclusion has, to a significant extent, been addressed, at least for girls. In its place, a more delicate imbalance has emerged.For policymakers, this is unfamiliar territory. The instinct has long been to close the gap that marginalizes girls. Now, the task is more critical: maintaining these gains without allowing the reverse disparity to take root.The Economic Survey figures do not sound alarm bells. But they demand attention. Because it is no longer a story of who is missing in Delhi’s classrooms. It’s about who is starting to fall behind, and why.
