About 8,000 schools with zero enrolment employ 20,000 teachers in India: Ministry data
New Delhi(PTI): Close to 8,000 schools across the country had zero enrolments during the 2024-25 academic session, with West Bengal accounting for most such schools, followed by Telangana, according to official data.
A total of 20,817 teachers were employed in the schools with zero enrolments. In a peculiar case, West Bengal accounted for 17,965 such teachers, along with the highest number of schools without enrolments (3,812).
According to the Ministry of Education's statistics, 7,993 schools had zero enrolments, down by over 5,000 from the previous year's count of 12,954.
Meanwhile, Haryana, Maharashtra, Goa, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura had no such schools.
"School education is a state subject, states have been advised to address the issue of zero enrolments in schools. Some states have merged some schools for optimum utilisation of resources such as infrastructure as well as staff," a senior official told PTI.
There were no schools with zero enrolment in the Union Territories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, and Chandigarh, according to the data.
Delhi also had no schools with zero enrolments.
The second highest number of such schools was in Telangana (2,245), followed by Madhya Pradesh (463). While Telangana had 1,016 teachers employed in these schools, Madhya Pradesh employed 223.
Uttar Pradesh had 81 such schools. The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UP Board) had announced that it is preparing to revoke the recognition of its affiliated schools across the state that have recorded zero student enrolment for the past three consecutive academic years.
Over 33 lakh students across the country are enrolled in more than 1 lakh single-teacher schools, with Andhra Pradesh recording the highest number of these schools, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep.
However, when it comes to student enrolment in schools with a single teacher, Uttar Pradesh tops the list, followed by Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.
The number of single-teacher schools decreased from 1,18,190 in 2022–23 to 1,10,971 in 2023–24, recording a drop of around six per cent.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
