According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education, there were 7,993 schools across India with no student enrolments during the 2024-25 academic year. This figure represents a significant decline of more than 5,000 from the previous year”s total of 12,954.
West Bengal emerged as the state with the highest number of these non-enrolling schools, reporting 3,812, while Telangana followed with 2,245. The data indicated that a total of 20,817 teachers were employed in schools where no students were enrolled, with West Bengal alone accounting for 17,965 of these teachers.
In contrast, several states, including Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura, reported no schools with zero enrolments. Additionally, the Union Territories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, and Chandigarh did not have any such schools, with Delhi also reporting zero enrolments.
Besides West Bengal and Telangana, Madhya Pradesh had 463 schools without enrolments, with 223 teachers employed in those institutions. In Uttar Pradesh, a total of 81 schools fell into this category. The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UP Board) has announced plans to revoke the recognition of schools across the state that have recorded zero student enrolment for three consecutive academic years.
Despite the challenges, over 3.3 million students are currently enrolled in more than 100,000 single-teacher schools throughout India. Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of these schools, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep. However, in terms of student enrolment in single-teacher schools, Uttar Pradesh leads, followed by Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.
The number of single-teacher schools saw a reduction from 118,190 in the 2022-23 academic year to 110,971 in the following year, indicating a decline of approximately six percent.
