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Sagar Watch: Opinion
Sachin Jyotshi-Education Consultant/ Column Writer
In a country that proudly calls itself the world’s youngest nation, it is nothing short of tragicomic that more than 5,000 government schools in India had zero students in 2024–25—yes, zero, as in an attendance register with only the teacher’s signature.
According to official data, 5,149 schools are student-free zones, with nearly 70% of them located in Telangana (2,081) and West Bengal (1,571).
Yet the real punchline of this national satire is that 1.44 lakh teachers are posted in zero or low-enrolment schools, faithfully reporting to duty, unlocking gates, dusting blackboards, and perhaps teaching the most disciplined students of all—empty benches.
Imagine the scene: a bell rings sharply at 10 a.m., a teacher walks into the classroom with full sincerity, greets an invisible audience with a confident “Good morning, class,” waits for a response that never comes, and then proceeds to teach Newton’s Laws to a wall that has heard them since 1987.
The chalk writes, the fan rotates, the mid-day meal kitchen stays silent, and the attendance register proudly records 100% presence of staff. If efficiency were measured in silence, these schools would top global rankings.
The irony deepens when we remember that India is simultaneously debating teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and declining learning outcomes.
On one side, urban parents fight lotteries to get their children into private schools with AC classrooms and smart boards; on the other, government schools enjoy luxury amenities like space, staff, and serenity—minus students.
It is perhaps the world’s first experiment in teacher-centric education, where the system ensures employment security so robust that students are clearly optional.
Why are these schools empty? Migration, population shifts, poor infrastructure, lack of accountability, and parental preference for private schools all play their part.
But policy response often resembles a classic Indian solution: adjust teachers, don’t adjust the system. Instead of merging schools, relocating staff, or reimagining education delivery, we seem content maintaining what can only be called educational museums—fully staffed, government-funded, and proudly student-free.
To be fair, this is not a joke on teachers. Most are victims of poor planning, trapped in a system that values postings over outcomes. The real satire lies in governance that counts buildings and salaries but forgets children.
A school without students is like a hospital without patients or a railway station where no trains stop—functional on paper, meaningless in reality.
The laughter fades when we realize the cost: public money, lost opportunities, and a quiet admission that access to quality education is drifting further from those who need it most.
Until we treat enrolment, learning, and relevance as seriously as postings and payrolls, India will continue to run the world’s largest education system where, in some classrooms, the only thing learning is the echo.
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