Nearly 8,000 schools across India report zero enrolments in 2024-25; West Bengal leads

NEW DELHI: Close to 8,000 schools across the country had zero enrolments during the 2024-25 academic session, with West Bengal accounting for most such schools, followed by Telangana, according to official data. A total of 20,817 teachers were employed in the schools with zero enrolments. In a peculiar case, West Bengal accounted for 17,965 such teachers, along with the highest number of schools without enrolments (3,812).

According to the Ministry of Education's statistics, 7,993 schools had zero enrolments, down by over 5,000 from the previous year's count of 12,954. Meanwhile, Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura had no such schools. "School education is a state subject, states have been advised to address the issue of zero enrolments in schools. Some states have merged some schools for optimum utilisation of resources such as infrastructure as well as staff," a senior official told PTI.

No zero-enrolment schools in Delhi, UTs

There were no schools with zero enrolment in the Union Territories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, and Chandigarh, according to the data. Delhi also had no schools with zero enrolments.

The second highest number of such schools was in Telangana (2,245), followed by Madhya Pradesh (463). While Telangana had 1,016 teachers employed in these schools, Madhya Pradesh employed 223.

Uttar Pradesh had 81 such schools. The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UP Board) had announced that it is preparing to revoke the recognition of its affiliated schools across the state that have recorded zero student enrolment for the past three consecutive academic years.

Uttar Pradesh leads in student enrolment

Over 33 lakh students across the country are enrolled in more than 1 lakh single-teacher schools, with Andhra Pradesh recording the highest number of these schools, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep.

However, when it comes to student enrolment in schools with a single teacher, Uttar Pradesh tops the list, followed by Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh. The number of single-teacher schools decreased from 1,18,190 in 2022–23 to 1,10,971 in 2023–24, recording a drop of around six per cent.