Govt’s education drive falters; nearly 1,000 schools have less than 10 or no student in UT
Arteev Sharma
Jammu: In a sharp contradiction to the government’s push to strengthen public education and boost enrolment, the number of government schools with zero or very low enrolment—as well as the number of teachers posted in them–has grown steadily in J&K and Ladakh over the past three years.
According to the official data tabled in Parliament, there has been a consistent rise in schools with fewer than 10 students or none at all between 2022-23 and 2024-25. In Jammu and Kashmir alone, such schools increased from 798 in 2022-23 to 869 in 2023-24, reaching 997 in 2024-25.
The highest number of 20 schools with zero enrolment of students was noticed in Udhampur district followed by 19 in Rajouri and 18 each in Kishtwar and Doda districts.
Similarly, teacher deployment in these sparsely populated schools has also risen over the same period. “The number of teachers posted in schools with fewer than 10 or zero students increased from 1,692 in 2022-23 to 1,705 in 2023-24, and further to 1,778 in 2024-25,” an official document said.
In Ladakh too, the same trend was reported where the number of schools with less than 10 or zero enrolment of students increased during the period. The number of such schools was 269 in 2022-23 which rose to 276 in 2024-25, while the teacher deployment in these schools reported an increase from 581 in 2022-23 to 755 in 2024-25.
What is more intriguing is that the overall enrolment of students in government schools have also come down in Jammu and Kashmir, notwithstanding the government’s slew of initiatives aimed at strengthening public education and boost student enrolment.
“There was a total of 14,73,368 students enrolled in government schools across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in 2021-22, which gradually came down to 14,54,668 in 2022-23, 14,21,643 in 2023-24 and 13,93,820 in the last financial year 2024-25,” another document suggested.
It further suggested the declining enrolment of students in government schools directly benefited the private schools where an upward trend of enrollment was reported during the last three years.
“The student enrolment in private unaided schools in Jammu and Kashmir was 11,52,187 in 2022-23 which rose to 12,03,064 in 2023-24 and 12,55,338 in 2024-25,” it said.
Pertinently, the government has claimed that it would release a whopping Rs 1435.99 crore under Samagra Shiksha during 2025-26 while Ladakh would get an amount of Rs 226.31 crore for the period.
