Chandigarh, May 29 -- : The Union ministry of education's programme approval board (PAB) has flagged a significant decline in both school enrolment and mid-day meal coverage under the PM POSHAN scheme in Chandigarh, with total enrolment dropping over 5,000 students and average daily coverage shrinking by 8% in 2025-26. According to the PAB minutes for the annual work plan & budget 2026-27, meeting held on May 16, total enrolment across Chandigarh's 116 government schools fell from 99,872 in 2024-25 to 94,740 - a decline of 5,132 students. The drop in average coverage was steeper, falling from 62,669 to 57,659 beneficiaries - a reduction of 8%. The sharpest decline was at the Bal Vatika (pre-primary) level, where enrolment dropped by 8% and coverage fell by 9%. Primary enrolment fell by 6% with coverage declining by 7%. Upper primary enrolment dipped by 3%, while its coverage fell by 9%, from 25,990 to 23,676 students. The PAB asked the UT administration to ascertain the reasons for the drop in enrolment and average coverage and to take corrective measures. On other performance indicators, PAB found the UT's performance satisfactory. All 116 schools have functional LPG connections, nutrition gardens, and are reporting on automated monitoring system. Health checkups covered 99% of enrolled students (93,881), and IFA supplements and deworming tablets reached all 94,740 students. 'Tithi Bhojan' - community-contributed mealswere provided to 1,50,416 students, achieving 100% target. However, the PAB flagged that while the UT achieved 100% demographic Aadhaar authentication, it is yet to complete biometric Aadhaar authentication. The board advised the UT to undertake biometric authentication for all students in a time-bound manner and ensure student data is updated monthly on the MIS portal. Director of school education Nitish Singla remained unavailable for comment, however, government school teachers attributed the decline to a more rigorous admissions process in recent years. They pointed to stricter eligibility criteria, with Aadhaar card verification effectively narrowing the pool of students gaining entry into government schools....