Telangana earns dubious distinction with second-highest number of zero enrolled schools in the country

Telangana has been grappling with a growing crisis in its education system, with over 2,200 schools reporting zero enrolments in the academic year 2024-25. The state's enrolment issues are part of a larger national problem, with West Bengal and Telangana contributing to over three-quarters of the country's schools with no children.

Hyderabad: Once alive with bustling classroom activities, more than 2,200 schools across the State now have empty classrooms and blackboards gathering dust.

According to the information released by the Ministry of Education, Telangana has earned a dubious distinction of standing second after West Bengal in the country for having the highest number of schools with zero enrolment.

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As per the UDISE plus for the academic year 2024-25, Telangana has 2,245 schools that reported zero enrolments, reflecting grim school education in the State. In fact, the number of schools with no student has gone up by nearly 150 in comparison with the academic year 2023-24,

The report revealed that while the country recorded 7,993 schools without children, West Bengal with (3,812) and Telangana with (2,245) accounted for 76 percent of such schools. It was interesting to note that zero enrolled schools in the State had 1,016 teachers on rolls. Overall, the country has 20,817 teachers on rolls in zero enrolled schools, with West Bengal having the highest number i.e., 17,965.

Further, the number of schools with less than 10 enrollment has gone up in the State. A total of 12.7 percent (5,483) out of 43,154 schools have reported less than 10 admissions in 2024-25. This was at 11.8 percent during the academic year 2023-24. Majority of these schools have been reported in the government sector, which shows lack of public schooling.

However, there was some relief for the State as the number of schools with single teachers witnessed gradual decrease. While 6,054 schools had a single teacher in 2022-23, this dropped to 5,835 in 2023-24 and further came down to 5,001 in 2024-25. These single teacher schools have a staggering 62,288-pupil strength.

As for other States, Andhra Pradesh recorded 12,912 schools with single teachers, which was highest in the country. It was followed by Jharkhand with 9,172 schools that had a single teacher.