EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE TRENDS IN INDIAN SCHOOLS: AN ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE, FACILITIES, AND DIGITAL ACCESS FROM NATIONAL SURVEYS (2022–2025)

In this paper, education inequality, infrastructure provision, access to devices, student-achievement, and children techno use behaviour in Indian schools have been examined based on the national data sets of UDISE+ (2022- 25), PARAKH/Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, and NCPCR (2021). The most important ones are: (a) study of the information on trends in basic and digital infrastructure in 2015-16 to 2024-25; (b) the evaluation of differences between regions and management in terms of facilities; (c) findings on variations in student performance by the gender, location and school type; and (d) insights into the patterns of use of mobile and internet as tools to learn and have fun. The methodology adopted was quantitative and descriptive-analytical based, with use of aggregate secondary data and statistical tests like trend analysis, ANOVA and independent samples t-tests in determining the differences by states, demographic groups and management systems in schools. The outcomes of the Digital India, Samagra Shiksha, PM e-Vidya, and BharatNet have shown significant gains of functional electricity, drinking water, and sanitation and access to digital infrastructure, especially the internet and computers. Nonetheless, there is still a high level of interstate and rural- urban inequity. The data on performance indicated that there are stable benefits of urban, privately managed and centrally managed schools and there are gender differences on language but insignificant on mathematics. The device-use habits among children reveal that they are heavy smartphone users who spend much of their time attending online classes although their study and recreation activities are inconsistent. These results point to the significance of equity-based, focused interventions to achieve NEP 2020, SDG-4, and Viksit Bharat 2047 goals to provide inclusive and technology-enhanced learning to everyone.