Parliament Question: Closure of Schools Due to Lack of Students

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-3669 ANSWERED ON 10.08.2026 Closure of Schools Due to Lack of Students

3669. Shri T R Baalu:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that large number of elementary schools have been closed down due to lack of sufficient number of students in several States;

(b) if so, details of the number of schools closed during the last two years, State wise; and

(c) the remedial measures being taken by the Central Government to reverse this trend so as to put an end to student dropouts? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b): Education is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and the opening, closing and rationalisation of schools are within the purview of respective State/UT Governments. The total number of elementary level government schools, as reported by the State/UTs, on the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) for the year 2024-25 and 2025-26 are at annexure.

As per the data available on UDISE+, advancements have been made in improving universal access across upper primary, secondary and higher secondary level of school education. This is evidenced by Gross Access Ratio (GAR) for 2018-19 and 2025-26:

Year Upper Primary Secondary Higher Secondary 2018-19 96.49 88.24 65.05 2025-26 98.14 95.05 94.79

GAR: Gross access ratio (GAR) is total villages/habitations having school within specified norm in a year out of total villages/habitations in that year.

(c): The Central Government assist States and UTs through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha and hot cooked meal provided from Balvatika to class 8 under Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Yojna. Financial assistance/grant is also provided to the States and UTs for various activities to reduce dropout and increase enrolment in Government schools, which include opening/strengthening of new schools up to Senior Secondary level, strengthening school infrastructure, setting up and up gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) upto class 12, setting up of residential schools/hostels named Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Avasiya Vidyalayas, hostels under Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha Abhiyan (PM-JANMAN) and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan (DAJGUA), transport allowance, undertaking enrolment drives, seasonal hostels/residential camps, provision of skill education and ICT facilities in schools, providing free text books and free uniform, transport/escort facility, etc.

PM SHRI Scheme has also been launched with an aim to develop more than 14,500 selected schools as exemplar schools that offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood, showcasing all the initiatives of NEP 2020.

******Annexure ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) AND (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3669 ANSWERED ON 10/08/2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MP SHRI T R BAALU REGARDING ‘CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS DUE TO LACK OF STUDENTS’ State/UT-wise number of elementary level government schools for the year 2024-25 and 2025-26 Elementary level Government schools State/UT/India 2024-25 2025-26 India 889806 879940 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 234 234 Andhra Pradesh 37449 36003 Arunachal Pradesh 2191 2097 Assam 39807 39598 Bihar 66803 66915 Chandigarh 14 13 Chhattisgarh 43836 43853 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 299 291 Delhi 1546 1544 Goa 686 677 Gujarat 32432 32398 Haryana 10869 10862 Himachal Pradesh 11724 11465 Jammu & Kashmir 16196 16196 Jharkhand 32704 32703 Karnataka 41967 41352 Kerala 3498 3495 Ladakh 681 599 Lakshadweep 25 23 Madhya Pradesh 82726 81683 Maharashtra 62793 62436 Manipur 2478 2457 Meghalaya 7633 5459 Mizoram 2227 2224 Nagaland 1615 1588 Odisha 42555 42520 Puducherry 280 280 Punjab 15448 15443 Rajasthan 50288 49815 Sikkim 636 606 Tamil Nadu 31288 31191 Telangana 22983 21022 Tripura 3153 3095 Uttar Pradesh 134115 133948 Uttarakhand 13619 13434 West Bengal 73008 72421

Source: UDISE+