Number of government schools falls, but those with fewer than 10 students see a steady rise

The number of government schools across the country has declined over the last six years, data tabled by the Union Government in Parliament on Monday (December 1, 2025) showed.

The data presented by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus further showed a steady rise in the number of government schools with fewer than 10 or zero student enrolments over the past 3 years.

The data was compiled in response to a starred question in Lok Sabha by Congress MPs Karti Chidambaram and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. It showed that in 2022-23, there were 52,300 government schools with fewer than 10 or zero student enrolments, a figure that rose to more than 65,000 in 2024-25.

States like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana accounted for the highest number of these schools.Interestingly, the data presented revealed that the number of teachers employed at these schools rose from 1.26 lakh in 2022-23 to 1.44 lakh in 2024-25.

Mr. Pradhan, in his response, noted that while education is on the concurrent list of the Constitution, “the recruitment, remuneration, and rational deployment of teachers fall under the purview of the respective State Governments and Union Territory (U.T.) Administrations.”

In response to questions on government schools that had been closed, merged, or repurposed due to low or zero enrollment, the government submitted UDISE+ data showing an overall decline in the number of schools across all States and U.T.s.

The dataset revealed that the country had 10.32 lakh government schools in 2019-20, which fell to 10.13 lakh in 2024-25, without specifying how much of this reduction was due to closures, mergers, or repurposing.

When asked about the status and annual reports of government schools, Mr. Pradhan said under the regulations issued by the Department of Expenditure in 2016, State and U.T. governments submit annual and audit reports to their respective Assemblies first before sending them to the Centre for presentation in Parliament. Union Territories without legislatures send the reports directly to the Centre. The government did not clarify when the last such report was submitted.