Despite the Gujarat government’s push for ‘smart’ schools, the state ranks low in public school numbers. Gujarat isn’t even among the top 14 states with the most government schools.
According to a media report, In 2023-24, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 1.37 lakh public schools, followed by Madhya Pradesh (92,439) and West Bengal (82,307). Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh also have more schools than Gujarat.
Gujarat has only 34,597 government schools, and 443 have been shut down in the last five years. The count has steadily dropped — from 35,040 in 2019-20 to 34,651 in 2022-23.
Meanwhile, states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh have increased their number of public schools in 2023-24.
| State | No of public schools |
|---|---|
| UP | 1,37,102 |
| MP | 92,439 |
| West Bengal | 82,307 |
| Bihar | 78,120 |
| Rajasthan | 70,233 |
| Maharashtra | 65,157 |
| Karnataka | 49,306 |
| Chhattisgarh | 48,803 |
| Odisha | 48,671 |
| Assam | 45,008 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 45,000 |
| Tamil Nadu | 37,672 |
| Jharkhand | 35,975 |
| Gujarat | 34,597 |