Parliament Question: Closure of Government Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 3606 ANSWERED ON- 11.08.2025 CLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

3606. Shri K Radhakrishnan:

Shri Amra Ram:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the number of Government schools that have been closed across the country during the last five years, year-wise and State/UT-wise;

(b) the reasons for such closure, including lack of enrollment, infrastructure issues or administrative reasons;

(c) whether the decision for closing the school is contrary to the aim of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to educate all;

(d) whether the Government has conducted any assessment of the impact of closure of schools on access to education, particularly in rural, tribal and backward areas;

(e) whether any steps has been taken to ensure that the affected students continue their education without disruption; and

(f) the details of any policy measures or guidelines issued to prevent further closures and to strengthen school education in underserved areas? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a): The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) has developed the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) system to record data on indicators of school education provided by all the States and Union Territories. As per UDISE+, the State/UT-wise number of Government schools of last 5 years are at Annexure.

(b) to (f): Education is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and the opening, merger/closing of schools are within the purview of respective State Government and UT Administration-which are the appropriate Government under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.Since 2018-19, this Department is implementing an Integrated Centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha - which subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). Under the Scheme, financial assistance is provided to the States and UTs for opening/strengthening of new schools upto senior secondary level, construction of school buildings & additional classrooms.

Substantial advancements have been made in ensuring universal access across all levels of school education. This is evidenced by the improvement in Gross Access Ratio (GAR) from 2018-19 to 2024-25 as under:

(GAR)

(GAR) (GAR) (GAR) Higher Uppar Primary Secondary Secondary India Primary 2018-19 97.15 96.49 88.24 65.05 2024-25 97.83 96.57 95.35 94.97 Para 7.4 of the National Education Policy 2020 underscores that although consolidation of schools is an option that is often discussed, it must be carried out very judiciously, and only when it is ensured that there is no impact on access.

Similarly, to ensure universal access to elementary schools, Section 6 of the RTE Act mandates the establishment of schools by the appropriate government within defined area or neighbourhood limits. Therefore, to achieve better learning outcomes and appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR) across upper primary and secondary levels, some states have adopted appropriate strategies to establish the larger schools as per aspirations of the public.

For the habitations that remain uncovered (mostly small or sparsely populated in difficult areas) where opening of school is not feasible, transport facility is provided up to an average cost @ ₹ 6000/ per child per annum up to Class X.

Further, financial assistance is provided to the State/UT Government for opening and running of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Awasiya Vidyalayas in remote, sparsely populated and difficult to reach areas, hilly terrains, areas affected by LWE, large uninhabited areas with natural barriers. Financial assistance is also

provided under PM-JANMAN component of Samagra Shiksha to the States and UTs for the unserved identified Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and under Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA) component of Samagra Shiksha, for the unserved ST population.

****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3606 ANSWERED ON 11.08.2025 ASKED BY HONB’LE MP SHRI K RADHAKRISHNAN AND SHRI AMRA RAM REGARDING ‘CLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS’ The State/UT-wise number of Government schools of the last 5 years is as below:

State/UT 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 342 342 342 342 340 Andhra Pradesh 45115 45145 45137 45167 45000 Arunachal Pradesh 3056 3061 2985 2922 2847 Assam 47157 46749 45490 44925 45008 Bihar 72610 75555 75558 75550 78120 Chandigarh 121 121 123 119 119 Chhattisgarh 48547 48619 48743 48728 48803 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 300 407 388 387 360 Daman & Diu 109 Delhi 2767 2751 2762 2673 2693 Goa 827 821 814 806 789 Gujarat 35040 34967 34699 34651 34597 Haryana 14484 14563 14562 14443 14374 Himachal Pradesh 15398 15391 15380 15447 15217 Jammu & Kashmir 23165 23167 23173 18785 18785 Jharkhand 35931 35888 35840 35764 35795 Karnataka 49834 49791 49679 49520 49306 Kerala 5014 5020 5010 4811 4809 Ladakh 913 915 838 841 841 Lakshadweep 45 45 38 37 37 Madhya Pradesh 99411 99152 92695 92741 92439 Maharashtra 65886 65734 65639 65431 65157 Manipur 2876 2878 2889 2922 2934 Meghalaya 7799 7795 7783 7778 7779 Mizoram 2552 2558 2563 2567 2587 Nagaland 2011 1975 1960 1954 1952 Odisha 53260 50256 49072 48767 48671 Puducherry 422 422 422 422 420 Punjab 19377 19330 19259 19245 19242 Rajasthan 67660 68813 68948 69538 70233 Sikkim 851 851 864 864 864 Tamil Nadu 37579 37589 37636 37658 37672 Telangana 30001 30015 30023 29997 30022 Tripura 4275 4265 4262 4245 4238 Uttar Pradesh 137638 137068 137024 137003 137102 Uttarakhand 16741 16651 16484 16381 16201 West Bengal 83456 83379 83302 82579 82307

Source: UDISE, UDISE+