A recent report by NITI Aayog has highlighted major gaps in India’s government school system, revealing that thousands of schools across the country still lack basic facilities such as electricity, toilets, water supply and adequate teaching staff.
According to the report titled School Education System in India, around 1.19 lakh schools do not have functional electricity connections. Nearly 98,592 schools lack usable girls’ toilets, while 61,540 schools do not have functional toilets at all. The report also found that 14,505 schools are without proper drinking water supply and 59,829 schools do not have handwashing facilities.
The report further noted that only 51.7% of government secondary schools in the country have science laboratories, affecting the quality of education, particularly in rural areas.
Teacher shortages continue to remain a major concern. Around 1,04,125 schools are being run by a single teacher, with most of these schools located in rural regions. Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of teacher vacancies. In Jharkhand, the student-teacher ratio in secondary schools has reached 47:1.
The report also raised concerns over high dropout rates after primary education. India’s national secondary school dropout rate stands at 11.5%. West Bengal recorded the highest dropout rate at 20%, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka at 18.3% each. Assam also reported a high dropout rate of 17.5%.
Additionally, the report stated that nearly 7,993 schools across the country currently have zero student enrolment. West Bengal and Telangana have the highest number of such “ghost schools”, referring to government schools with no enrolled students.