Decline of Government Schools in India

Context

A recent report by NITI Aayog pointed out that in the last ten years, almost 94,000 government schools closed and an average of around 25 schools was closed every day, resulting in 2.26 crore government-school enrolments falling. As a result, the proportion of government schools in the overall enrolment has significantly decreased from 71% in 2005 to 49.24% in 2024–25.

Key Statistics

• School Count: Dropped from 11.07 lakh down to 10.13 lakh public schools nationwide.
• Enrolment Drop: Total public school student enrollment decreased by 2.26 crore, falling from 26.95 crore to 24.69 crore. 
• Private Expansion: Private schools grew from 2.88 lakh to 3.39 lakh in the same timeframe.
• Low Attendance: More than 65,000 government schools are receiving less than 10 pupils of which over 5,000 schools have 0 pupil attendance. 
• Affected States: Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh saw the biggest declines as numbers of schools dipped by tens of thousands in a year (from 1.63 lakh to 1.38 lakh in Uttar Pradesh, and 1.22 lakh to 99,411 in Madhya Pradesh in a single year). There are significant closures in Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Major Causes Behind the Closures

• Demographic Transitions: With declining fertility rates and declining numbers of school-age children in the rural grids, thousands of classrooms are seeing very low and even no attendance.
• Administrative Rationalisation: Inappropriate fiscal budgets and administrative efficiency, state governments actively and actively rationalize and merge redundant or under-enrolled institutions into central hubs.
• Infrastructure Deficits: Some deficits are out there and persistent, like the fact that there are thousands of schools with no electricity or safe drinking water, or no toilets where the girls can go, enticing parents toward private alternatives.
• Teacher Shortage: Large numbers of single teacher schools with several classes, compromising the quality of education, leading to student dropouts.

Socio-Economic and Policy Impacts

• Disproportionate Marginalization: Children of SC, ST, and economically weaker or rural families are the worst affected as they are completely dependent on public systems.
• Non-compliance of Neighbourhood Norms: Local schools are closed and young children – especially girls – are forced to travel long, unsafe distances to school, leading to an increase in dropouts.
• Right to Education (RTE) Strain: Mergers often result in severely skewed pupil-teacher ratios, undermining foundational learning goals.

Impact on Access to Education

• Longer Commutes: This means that villages which are far away from any schools are left without schools if they are to be merged into a distant “magnet” or “cluster” school.
• More dropouts: Physical distance and difficult travel force many young children, especially girls, to drop out rather than travel far.
• Unbroken Continuity: Learning gaps for marginalized learners who depend solely on public infrastructure are being widened. 

Way Forward for Policy and Governance

• Enhance Public Infrastructure: Emphasis on investment in public infrastructure such as Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for improving infrastructure of rural digital labs, sanitation, and safety.
• Contextualised Rationalisation: Ensure that the rationalisation is entirely in line with the guidelines of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 without affecting physical access in remote and tribal habitations.
• Pedagogical Accountability: Promote rational use of human resources and transparently fill in positions to regain the trust of the community in the public education brand. 

Source: The Hindu

UPSC Mains Practice Question 

Q. Examine the impact of the closure and merger of government schools on educational access and social equity in India.

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