ISS 2016 Statistics Paper-2 Solution: Question 80 (U-DISE School Education Data Source)

We're continuing our question-by-question walk through the ISS Statistics Paper-2 previous year papers, and this post wraps up the 2016 paper with its very last item. If you've been following along from Question 1, this one closes out the official statistics portion of the 2016 set before the series moves on to 2017.

Quick Summary

• Topic: Indian Official Statistical System — school education data sources

• Question Reference: ISS 2016, Statistics Paper-2, Question 80

• Correct Answer: Option (b) — National University of Educational Planning and Administration

The Question As It Appeared In The Paper

80. The Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE), which is an important source of school education data, has been developed by which one of the following?

• (a) National Council of Educational Research and Training

• (b) National University of Educational Planning and Administration

• (c) University Grants Commission

• (d) National Sample Survey Office

Step 1: Understand What U-DISE Actually Is

Before picking an option, it helps to know what U-DISE is for. U-DISE stands for Unified District Information System for Education, and it is the primary administrative data system through which India collects school-level statistics — number of schools, enrolment, teachers, infrastructure like toilets and drinking water, dropout rates, and so on — from every state and union territory, school by school, year by year.

It grew out of an earlier system simply called DISE (District Information System for Education), which was first set up in the mid-1990s under the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) to track primary school data. As the scope expanded to cover secondary and senior secondary schools as well, it was renamed U-DISE to reflect this "unified" coverage across all school levels.

Step 2: Rule Out The Distractor Options One By One

This is a pure knowledge-based "who does what" question typical of the official statistics portion of Paper-2, so the method is to eliminate options based on each body's actual mandate rather than to compute anything.

Option (a), NCERT — the National Council of Educational Research and Training designs curricula, textbooks, and conducts educational research and teacher training. It does not run the administrative data collection system for school statistics, so this is not correct.

Option (c), UGC — the University Grants Commission regulates and funds higher education, that is, universities and colleges, not school education. Since U-DISE is specifically about schools, UGC is out of scope here.

Option (d), NSSO — the National Sample Survey Office conducts large-scale household sample surveys (consumer expenditure, employment-unemployment, and so on). U-DISE, by contrast, is not a sample survey at all; it is a complete administrative census of schools reported by every school itself. So NSSO is also ruled out.

Option (b), NUEPA — the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (at the time of the 2016 exam; it was renamed NIEPA, the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, in 2018) is the autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development that was specifically tasked with designing, maintaining, and publishing U-DISE data, in collaboration with the Department of School Education and Literacy. This matches the question exactly.

Pro Tip: Many candidates lose marks on this kind of question by only remembering the acronym of the data system (U-DISE) and not the nodal agency behind it. The way this is usually taught is to build a short mental "data system → owning agency" table for each major Indian statistical system — Census of India → Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Economic Census → Central Statistics Office, U-DISE → NUEPA/NIEPA — and revise that table as a set rather than as isolated facts, since Paper-2 repeatedly tests exactly this kind of mapping.

Step 3: Confirm Against The Official Answer Key

Cross-checking Test Booklet Series A against the official ISS 2016 Statistics Paper-2 answer key, Question 80 is listed as option (b), which agrees fully with the reasoning above: U-DISE was developed and maintained by NUEPA. There is no discrepancy to flag for this question.

Why This Question Matters

Questions like this one test whether a candidate actually knows the institutional architecture of India's statistical system, not just formulas. The ISS exam regularly asks which body is responsible for which dataset — Census, NSS rounds, Agriculture Census, CPI, or in this case school education data — because a working statistician in government service is expected to know exactly where official numbers come from and who is accountable for them. Students who drill this kind of institution-to-dataset mapping until it becomes automatic tend to pick up these marks quickly, since the questions rarely vary much in structure from year to year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does U-DISE stand for?

U-DISE stands for Unified District Information System for Education. It is India's school-level administrative data system that collects information on enrolment, teachers, infrastructure, and other indicators from every school in the country.

Is NUEPA the same as NIEPA?

Yes. The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) was renamed the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in 2018. Since this question is from the 2016 paper, the name in use at that time, NUEPA, is the historically correct answer.

Is U-DISE a sample survey or a census?

U-DISE is a census-type administrative data collection, not a sample survey. Every recognised school in the country is expected to report its data each academic year, which is what distinguishes it from NSSO's sample-based surveys.

Why isn't NCERT the correct answer, since it also deals with school education?

NCERT's role is curriculum design, textbook development, and educational research, not the collection or maintenance of nationwide school statistics. The data collection and reporting function specifically belongs to NUEPA/NIEPA in coordination with the Department of School Education and Literacy.

Are official statistics questions common in ISS Paper-2?

Yes, a substantial portion of Paper-2 in most years covers the Indian official statistical system, including the Census, NSSO, Agriculture Census, Economic Census, and sector-specific systems like U-DISE for education or systems used for health and price statistics.

What is the best way to prepare for this section?

Build a consolidated list of major Indian data systems alongside the agency responsible for each one, and revise it close to the exam, since these questions are fact-based and reward recognition speed rather than derivation.

That brings 2016's Statistics Paper-2 to a close with Question 80. If anything here was unclear, or you spotted a point worth discussing, drop a comment below — and if a fellow ISS aspirant is working through the same paper, feel free to share this with them.