More than 65,000 government schools across India are functioning with fewer than 10 students, including 5,149 institutions that reported zero enrolment in the 2024–25 academic year, according to official data from the Ministry of Education, pointing to a growing structural challenge within the public schooling system.
The data reveal sharp regional disparities, with Telangana and West Bengal together accounting for over 70 per cent of government schools that recorded no students during the year. The concentration of empty schools in these two states has highlighted uneven patterns of enrolment and utilisation across the national education network.
The figures were placed before Parliament last week in a written reply in the Lok Sabha to questions raised by MPs Karti P. Chidambaram and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. The information was drawn from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), the government’s principal repository for school-level data.
Beyond schools with no students at all, the ministry’s data show a steady rise in institutions with critically low enrolment. The number of government schools with fewer than 10 or zero students increased by 24 per cent over two academic years, from 52,309 in 2022–23 to 65,054 in 2024–25. Such schools now account for 6.42 per cent of all government schools in the country, suggesting a widening gap between infrastructure availability and actual attendance.
Staff deployment trends have further intensified scrutiny. During the same period, more than 1.44 lakh teachers were posted in schools with fewer than 10 or no students, raising concerns about the efficiency of teacher placement and the utilisation of public funds, particularly at the state level.
Responding to the data, the Ministry of Education reiterated that school education is a subject under the Concurrent List of the Constitution, making state governments and Union Territory administrations primarily responsible for school management, including teacher recruitment and deployment. The Centre said it continues to support states through the Samagra Shiksha scheme, aimed at maintaining prescribed pupil–teacher ratios, strengthening infrastructure and improving overall access to quality education.
The figures have reignited debate over school rationalisation, migration of students to private institutions and the need for more responsive planning to align public education resources with demographic and enrolment realities.
