West Bengal government says 933 zero-enrolment schools may be repurposed; committee formed

The West Bengal government is now reviewing the future of 933 primary and high schools that have had no students for many years. As reported by Pritha Roy Choudhury, a committee has been formed to understand what can be done with these schools, their unused assets like buildings, land, playgrounds.

One option that is being considered by the government is to allow other departments to use the unused school buildings and land. Dipak Burman, Education Minister of West Bengal said the education department would oversee the proposal before making a final decision.

The move has come after it came forward that West Bengal is dealing with a larger problem of zero- and low-enrolment schools. The state government has ordered a physical verification of these institutions so that their present status and infrastructure could be checked.

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West Bengal reviews zero-enrolment schools

According to the latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data, 4,133 schools in West Bengal have reported zero enrolment in 2025 to 26, with alomst 19,500 teachers posted at these schools reports Pritha Roy Choudhury.

The Education Minister said schools in remote areas with lesser students can continue to operate if there are no other schools nearby. However, the government might review schools which have low enrolment where many other schools are situated in the same area.

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Teacher vacancies, transfers remain a concern

The government is also looking into the uneven distribution of teachers across schools. Under the state's teacher transfer policy, teachers from sanctioned posts can be moved from schools with zero or very low enrolment to schools that have a larger number of vacancies.

Pritha reports that government data has reportedly shown that 6,769 schools have only one teacher, serving around 2.3 lakh students. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit looking at Samagra Shiksha implementation from 2019 to 20 to 2023 to 24 found 5,152 single-teacher schools affecting 1,76,491 students. Another 520 schools reported having no teachers.

Burman said the ongoing recruitment through the School Service Commission will address the staffing needs. He said the government schools will now have the required teachers by the 2027 academic year. The teacher shortage was also reported after the Supreme Court cancelled 25,753 teaching and non-teaching appointments made through the 2016 recruitment process.