Over 1 lakh single-teacher schools serve more than 33 lakh students in India: MoE data

Under the Right to Education Act of 2009, schools are required to maintain a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 30:1 for primary classes (I–V) and 35:1 for upper primary classes (VI–VIII). Andhra Pradesh leads the country in the number of schools staffed by only one teacher, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Lakshadweep.

In terms of student enrolment in these single-teacher schools, Uttar Pradesh ranks highest, with Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh following closely.

The total number of single-teacher schools has declined from 1,18,190 in the 2022–23 academic year to 1,10,971 in 2023–24, marking an approximate reduction of six per cent.

“The government is on a mission to improve the learning outcomes and entail the best possible utilization of available resources by undertaking school mergers and consolidation of schools often called ‘rationalisation of schools’,” a senior official explained.

“Single-teacher schools hinder the teaching learning process and hence efforts are being made to redeploy teachers from schools with zero student enrolment to single-teacher schools to ensure optimal teacher availability,” the official added.

Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of single-teacher schools in India, totaling 12,912, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 9,508, Jharkhand with 9,172, Maharashtra with 8,152, Karnataka with 7,349, and both Lakshadweep and Madhya Pradesh with 7,217 each.

West Bengal accounts for 6,482 such schools, Rajasthan 6,117, Chhattisgarh 5,973, and Telangana 5,001. In contrast, Delhi has only nine single-teacher schools, while the Union Territories of Puducherry, Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Chandigarh report none.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have just four. When it comes to student enrolment in these schools, Uttar Pradesh leads with 6,24,327 students, followed by Jharkhand with 4,36,480, West Bengal with 2,35,494, Madhya Pradesh with 2,29,095, Karnataka with 2,23,142, Andhra Pradesh with 1,97,113, and Rajasthan with 1,72,071.

Interestingly, the average number of students per single-teacher school is highest in Chandigarh and Delhi, with 1,222 and 808 students, respectively. On the other hand, regions like Ladakh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Himachal Pradesh have much lower averages, with 59, 70, 73, and 82 students per school, respectively.

“High number of students per school indicates optimum utilisation of school infrastructure and schools with low enrolments are currently being merged to ensure optimal utilisation,” the official explained.

(with PTI inputs)

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