India loses 17,141 govt schools in 5 years, over 8,000 in 2025-26: Education ministry data

The number of government schools across India declined by 17,141 over the past five academic years, according to official data shared with parliament by the ministry of education. The figures show that the country's government school network shrank from 10,22,386 schools in 2021–22 to 10,05,245 in 2025–26.

The data, sourced from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (U DISE+), was furnished in response to a Lok Sabha raised by MP Anand Bhadauria.

As previously reported, the latest UDISE Plus statistics show India lost over 8,000 government schools in just one year, from 2024-25 to 2025-26.

Government school count sees steady decline

The year-wise trend indicates that the number of operational government schools fell by 6,376 to 10,16,010 in 2022–23.

This was followed by a marginal increase of 1,650 schools in 2023–24, taking the total to 10,17,660.

Government Schools Across India: Change over 5 years

However, the downward trend resumed with the number of schools dropping by 4,338 in 2024–25 and falling further by 8,077 in 2025–26, marking the steepest annual decline during the five-year period.

States, UTs that lost or gained schools

The parliamentary data highlights wide variations across states and union territories in the size of their government school networks. Jammu and Kashmir recorded the largest overall decline, with the number of government schools falling by 4,386 — from 23,173 in 2021–22 to 18,787 in 2025–26.

Meghalaya registered a net reduction of 2,163 schools over the five-year period, including a decline of 2,169 schools in 2025–26 alone.

Telangana recorded a decline of 1,935 schools, while West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh saw reductions of 1,711 and 1,496 schools, respectively. West Bengal also has the highest number of zero-enrolment schools and the state government has framed a teacher transfer policy to “rationalise” deployment of staff across institutions.

Despite the overall decline, a few states expanded their government school network during the same period. Rajasthan added 1,035 schools, the highest increase among all states—followed by Bihar with 877 and Chhattisgarh with 110.

Uttar Pradesh recorded a modest net increase of 79 schools over the five-year period, despite attempts to merge schools.