Hyderabad: The Union Education Ministry has revealed that 5,149 government schools across India had zero students enrolled during the 2024–25 academic year, with nearly 70 percent of these located in Telangana and West Bengal.
The ministry presented this data in a recent report submitted to Parliament.
Nalgonda district tops list in Telangana
According to the report, Telangana tops the list with 2,081 schools having no students, followed by West Bengal with 1,571 such schools. At the district level, Nalgonda in Telangana recorded the highest number, with 315 schools showing zero enrollment.
Within Telangana, Mahabubabad (167) and Warangal (135) ranked second and third, respectively. In West Bengal’s capital Kolkata, 211 government schools reported no students at all.
The ministry expressed concern over the rising number of schools with fewer than ten students or none at all. The number of such schools nationwide has increased from 52,309 in 2022–23 to 65,054 in 2024–25, the report stated.
Student enrollment falling, teacher enrollment up
Surprisingly, the data also shows that while student numbers are falling dramatically, the number of teachers in these under-enrolled or zero-enrollment schools has grown.
In 2022–23, around 1.26 lakh teachers were posted in such institutions; by 2024–25, the number had risen to 1.44 lakh.
Overall, the total number of government schools across India has declined over the past five years, from 10.32 lakh in 2019–20 to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25, suggesting a broader trend of school closures and consolidations amid shrinking enrollment.
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