**Executive Summary**
This document presents the Minister of Education's response to Unstarred Question No. 384 in Lok Sabha, answered on February 2, 2026, concerning the closing down of government schools. The response addresses details of school closures, reasons for closures, studies conducted, status of school infrastructure, and schools with single teachers. Data cited covers the period from 2014-15 to 2024-25.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Constitutional and Legal Framework:**
* Education falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution, giving States and UTs authority over opening, closing, and rationalizing schools.
* The RTE Act, 2009, ensures access to elementary schools within defined areas and mandates appropriate government provision of free and compulsory education, ensuring neighborhood schools.
* **UDISE+ Data (Unified District Information System for Education Plus):**
* State/UT-wise data on government schools from 2014-15 to 2024-25 is available online.
* Improvements in universal access to education are indicated by Gross Access Ratio (GAR) data.
* **Gross Access Ratio (GAR) Data:**
* GAR for 2018-19 and 2024-25 are provided for primary, upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels, showing improvements in access across levels.
* **Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and Dropout Rate Data:**
* GER and dropout rates for 2023-24 and 2024-25 are provided by level of education.
* GAR has improved, dropout rates have fallen, and GER is increasing at upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels.
* **School Infrastructure and Single-Teacher Schools (2024-25 Data):**
* 0.3% of government schools are running without buildings.
* 12.0% of schools are housed in dilapidated building blocks.
* 0.6% of schools lack drinking water facilities.
* 13.4% of primary schools are running with a single teacher.
**Impact Analysis**
**Stakeholder:** State Governments and UT Administrations
**Impact:** Responsible for the opening, closing, and rationalisation of schools within their jurisdiction, guided by the RTE Act and constitutional provisions.
**Action Required:** Ensure adherence to RTE Act provisions, maintaining neighborhood school availability and free compulsory elementary education. Monitor and address infrastructure gaps and the prevalence of single-teacher schools.
**Stakeholder:** Ministry of Education
**Impact:** Provides data and frameworks (UDISE+) for monitoring education access and infrastructure.
**Action Required:** Continue to collect and disseminate UDISE+ data and address infrastructural deficiencies in schools, and promote availability of drinking water.
**Stakeholder:** Students
**Impact:** Access to education is directly impacted by the availability of schools, infrastructure, and teacher availability.
**Action Required:** N/A (Students do not have actions to take based on this document)
Key Entities Referenced
UDISE+: Unified District Information System for Education Plus; a system used to collect data on schools, and used as a source for statistics in the answer.
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009: An act that provides free and compulsory elementary education to children and mandates neighborhood schools.
Ministry of Education: The government ministry responsible for education, which provided the answer to the question.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-384
ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026
Closing Down of Government Schools
†384. Shri Amra Ram:
Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:
(a) the details of Government schools at primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary levels
which have been closed or merged during the last eleven years, State/UT-wise;
(b) the details of reasons for closing down the schools while the population is increasing;
(c) whether the Government has conducted any study regarding closing down of schools, if so, the
details of its finding outcomes;
(d) the number of schools running without buildings, schools running in dilapidated buildings and
schools having no provisions for safe drinking water; and
(e) the number of primary schools in the country running with a single teacher?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)
(a) to (c): Education is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and the opening, closing and
rationalisation of schools are within the purview of respective State Government and UT
Administration. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides
children’s access to elementary schools within the defined area or limits of neighbourhood. In pursuance
to Section 6 of the RTE Act, all States have notified area or limits of their neighbourhood norms.
Further, Section 8 of the RTE Act, 2009 also mandates that the appropriate government shall provide
free and compulsory elementary education to every child and will ensure availability of neighbourhood
schools.
As per UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus), State/UT-wise
number of Government schools, as reported by them from the year 2014-15 to 2024-25 are available at
https://www.education.gov.in/en/parl_ques.
As per the data available on UDISE+, advancements have been made in improving universal
access across all levels of school education. This is evidenced by Gross Access Ratio (GAR) for 2018-
19 and 2024-25:
Year Primary Upper Primary Secondary Higher Secondary
2018-19 97.15 96.49 88.24 65.05
2024-25 97.83 96.57 95.35 94.97
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.
As per UDISE+, GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio) and dropout rate by level of education for the
year 2023-24 and 2024-25 are given below:Indicator 2023-24 2024-25
Primary (1 to 5) 1.9 0.3
Dropout Rate Upper Primary (6-8) 5.2 3.5
Secondary (9-10) 14.1 11.5
Primary (1 to 5) 93 90.9
Upper Primary (6 to 8) 89.7 90.3
GER
Secondary (9-10) 77.4 78.7
Higher Secondary (11-12) 56.2 58.4
As shown above, as per UDISE+, GAR has improved, Dropout rate has fallen and GER is increasing at
Upper Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary level of education.
(d) & (e): As per UDISE+ 2024-25, number of government schools running without buildings, schools
having in dilapidated building blocks, schools without drinking water facility and number of primary
schools which are running with a single teacher are given below:
Indicator Percentage of Government Schools
Schools running without buildings 0.3
Schools having in dilapidated building blocks 12.0
schools without drinking water facility 0.6
Primary schools with a single teacher 13.4
******