Over 2,000 Telangana schools sit empty, alarming authorities nationwide
Nalgonda tops with 315 empty schools, followed by Mahabubabad and Warangal, highlighting Telangana’s deep education participation gap.
Hyderabad: A startling picture of India’s public education system has emerged, with the Union Education Ministry revealing that 5,149 government schools across the country reported zero students enrolled during the 2024–25 academic year. Nearly 70 percent of these empty schools are concentrated in just two states: Telangana and West Bengal, according to a report recently submitted to Parliament.
Telangana leads the country with 2,081 schools having no students at all, while West Bengal follows with 1,571 such schools. Within Telangana, Nalgonda district tops the list, with 315 schools showing zero enrollment, highlighting a worrying disconnect between educational infrastructure and student presence. Mahabubabad and Warangal districts rank second and third in Telangana, with 167 and 135 empty schools, respectively. In West Bengal, the capital Kolkata recorded 211 government schools with no students, illustrating that even urban centers are not immune to this troubling trend.
The report signals a growing concern over schools with extremely low enrollment, particularly those with fewer than ten students. Nationwide, the number of such under-populated schools has surged from 52,309 in 2022–23 to 65,054 in 2024–25. This increase points to a systemic challenge: while India has invested heavily in expanding educational infrastructure over the decades, many schools are now under-utilized or completely abandoned.
Ironically, while student enrollment is plummeting, the number of teachers posted in these under-enrolled or zero-enrollment schools has continued to rise. In 2022–23, around 1.26 lakh teachers were assigned to such schools. By 2024–25, this number had increased to 1.44 lakh. This mismatch raises concerns about resource allocation and efficiency, as large numbers of educators remain stationed in schools where few or no students are present.
The decline in enrollment has coincided with a broader trend of school closures and consolidations. Overall, the total number of government schools in India has decreased over the past five years, falling from 10.32 lakh in 2019–20 to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25. This reduction reflects both deliberate policy measures to consolidate small schools and the gradual abandonment of institutions in areas where student numbers are declining rapidly.
The situation underscores a growing challenge for policymakers. Empty and under-utilized schools are not just a matter of wasted infrastructure; they also represent communities where children are missing out on education. Rural depopulation, migration to urban areas, and socio-economic barriers may be contributing factors, leaving entire regions with educational facilities but no students to attend them.
Experts argue that simply maintaining schools without addressing declining enrollment is unsustainable. There is a pressing need to rethink how educational resources are distributed and to explore measures such as merging under-enrolled schools, offering transport solutions for students in remote areas, and incentivizing local communities to keep children in school.
For Telangana and West Bengal, the immediate challenge is clear: hundreds of schools sitting idle are not serving the purpose they were built for. At the same time, the growing number of teachers in these schools suggests that staffing policies need urgent revision to ensure that educational resources are deployed where they are genuinely needed.
As India continues to expand its educational infrastructure, the latest data serves as a reminder that building schools is only half the battle. Ensuring that children attend and benefit from them is equally critical. The government faces a dual challenge: revitalizing under-used schools and rethinking educational planning to match shifting demographics, migration patterns, and socio-economic realities.
If left unaddressed, the growing number of empty schools risks undermining decades of progress in public education. Policymakers, educators, and communities must now work together to ensure that every school in India becomes a place where children are not just counted on paper but are actively learning, thriving, and building the country’s future.