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India Reports 5,149 Empty Government Schools, With Most Concentrated in Telangana and West Bengal

The Education Ministry told Parliament that staffing falls under state responsibility.

Overview

  • UDISE+ data for 2024–25 lists 65,054 government schools with fewer than 10 students or none, a 24% rise since 2022–23 that brings this group to 6.42% of all government schools.
  • The nationwide tally of government schools declined to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25 from 10.32 lakh in 2019–20.
  • Teachers assigned to schools with very low or zero enrolment increased to 1.44 lakh from 1.26 lakh two years earlier, according to the parliamentary reply.
  • Telangana has about 2,081 zero-enrolment schools and West Bengal 1,571, together accounting for more than 70% of such schools.
  • Nalgonda district recorded the most empty schools at 315, with Kolkata second at 211, based on UDISE+ annexures tabled in the Lok Sabha.