New data shows India has 65,054 government schools with fewer than 10 students, or zero enrollment, for the 2024-25 academic year. These schools employ 144,238 teachers. The Education Ministry provided these figures to Lok Sabha on Monday, based on the UDISE Plus 2024-25 record.
UDISE Plus, or the Unified District Information System for Education Plus, is the central database for school education in India. It includes data for schools with low enrollment and those with no students.
States with Most Underenrolled Schools
West Bengal reports the highest number of government schools with fewer than 10 students, totaling 6,703. Uttar Pradesh follows with 6,561 low-enrolment schools. Maharashtra reported 6,552 such schools. Karnataka has 5,327, and Rajasthan 5,235. These states are among India’s largest and most populous.
| State | Less than 10 students | Number of teachers |
|---|---|---|
| West Bengal | 6,703 | 27,348 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 6,561 | 22,166 |
| Maharashtra | 6,552 | 11,056 |
| Karnataka | 5,327 | 7,843 |
| Rajasthan | 5,235 | 11,620 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 4,655 | 9,427 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 5,048 | 5,891 |
| Telangana | 5,021 | 4,850 |
| Uttarakhand | 4,395 | 7,682 |
| Tamil Nadu | 2,422 | 4,114 |
Other states also report low-enrolment schools. Himachal Pradesh has 1,818, and Assam has 1,545. Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Odisha, and Arunachal Pradesh each have between 500 and 1,000 such schools. Smaller states like Haryana, Punjab, and Northeastern states report under 500 each. Goa has 110. Chandigarh and Lakshadweep reported no government schools with fewer than ten students in 2024-25.
Teacher Deployment
West Bengal has the highest number of teachers assigned to schools with fewer than ten students, at 27,348. Uttar Pradesh follows with 22,166 teachers. Rajasthan employs 11,620 teachers for 5,235 schools. Maharashtra has 11,056 teachers for 6,552 schools with low student numbers.
The number of low-enrolment schools has increased. This happened even as the total number of government schools in India decreased. Total government schools shrunk from 1,032,570 in 2019-20 to 1,013,322 in 2024-25.
School Mergers and Challenges
States have initiated school mergers, a process called “school rationalisation.” This aims to improve resource use, including teacher deployment. NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) project oversaw the merger of thousands of schools. This included 35,000 schools in Madhya Pradesh, over 4,300 in Jharkhand, and 2,000 in Odisha.
More recently, Uttar Pradesh began new merger rounds in 2023 and announced further plans for 2025. This has faced opposition from teachers and political leaders. Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have also moved to merge schools. Karnataka plans to merge 41,000 small primary schools with larger “Magnet” institutions under its KPS Magnet scheme.
However, large-scale school mergers have negatively impacted many communities, particularly marginalized groups. In Kanpur, mergers displaced students from minority communities. This led some of the city’s poorest children out of school. In Odisha, several villages opposed closures. Mergers required children as young as 6 to move to hostels or walk long distances through forests to new schools. In Karnataka, student and teacher groups oppose the KPS Magnet scheme.