Zero enrolment crisis: Telangana temporarily shuts 1,441 govt schools

Telangana has approved the temporary closure of 1,441 government and local body schools for 2025–26 after topping the country with 2,081 zero-enrolment schools. Another 640 institutions may soon follow, pushing closures beyond 2,000

Hyderabad: After the dubious distinction of topping the country with highest number of schools with zero enrolment, the Telangana Congress government now has approved temporary closure of a staggering 1,441 government and local body schools across the State for the academic year 2025-26. Teachers in these schools have already moved to different institutions.

Around 640 other government-run schools that are devoid of students are also in the pipeline for temporary closure. The Education Department is awaiting approval of moving teaching posts from these 640 schools as teachers, who are currently on deputation, are drawing their salaries from these institutions. Once approved, these 640 institutions will also be temporarily closed, taking the total to over 2,000 in just one academic year.

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The move follows Telangana topping the country with 2,081 government-run schools with zero enrolment during the academic year 2024-25. These schools have a total of 625 teachers on their rolls.

Not just the State, Nalgonda district with 315, topped the country with the highest number of schools with no enrolment. Mahabubnagar with 167 and Warangal district with 135 were the next two districts with second highest number of zero enrolled schools in the State. Interestingly, the statistics which were presented to Parliament revealed that 20 such government-run schools were from Hyderabad

As per the details available with the Education Department, majority of the schools with zero admissions were at the primary level.

As per the statistics, the number of schools with zero admissions increased in the last couple of years. From 1,307 during the academic year 2023-24, the number of these schools rose to 2,081 in the following academic year.

“An approval has been given to temporarily shut down 1,441 government-run schools which have zero admissions. These schools will not be reflected in the Unified District Information System for Education plus data for the academic year 2025-26. These schools might be reopened if there are enough children who wish to take admission. Several States are also temporarily closing down zero-enrolled schools,” official sources said.

Further, the Education Department has already accorded permission to the Anganwadi centres to utilise the furniture and other equipment from the schools that have been temporarily shut.