Tumakuru education district has the highest number of schools with zero enrollment. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO
A total of 188 schools in the state, including 160 lower primary, 29 upper primary and three secondary schools, have zero enrollment this year.
This was revealed by Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa while replying to a question by KS member Naveen in the Legislative Council.
Notably, Tumakuru education district has the highest number of schools with zero enrollment at 45. Zero enrollment was recorded in 21 schools in Kalaburagi district, 20 in Kolar, 18 in Koppal, 17 in Bidar and 12 in Chitradurga.
Lower primary schools are the most among schools with zero enrollment. Every high school in Bengaluru South, Hassan and Koppal districts has zero enrollment.
One-teacher schools
The government also revealed that there is only one teacher in 6,675 schools.
Hassan has the highest number of such schools with 586, followed by Tumakuru (426), Kolar (347), Mandya (338), Chickballapur (334), Bengaluru South (298) and Mysuru (294).
Niranjanaradhya.VP, an expert on development education, said this showed the “deplorable conditions of government schools in the state”.
“Decreasing enrollment and increasing number of zero-enrollment schools is not because parents are not interested in public schools. Rather, it can be attributed to the neglect and abdication of the Ministry of Education’s duty to exercise the fundamental right to education by providing minimum infrastructural facilities as per the norms and standards set by the RTE Act. RTE compliance in the state is 23.6%, which is much lower than the national average of teachers. There are vacancies in primary and secondary schools 2,37,115 sanctioned seats. Under these alarming conditions, how can we expect poor parents to send their children to public schools?,” he asked.
EOM
Published – 12 Dec 2025 21:38 IST
