Shocking: 1 Lakh Teachers in Empty Schools, 5,000 Have Zero Students

• Over 1.44 lakh teachers are deployed in government schools with fewer than 10 or no students nationwide.
• 5,149 government schools across India currently have zero student enrollment.
• Telangana and West Bengal account for over 70% of these zero-enrollment schools.
• The number of schools with very low or zero enrollment increased by 24% in two years.
• Teacher recruitment and deployment are under the purview of state governments.

Why It Matters: Thousands of government schools are empty or near-empty, yet over a lakh teachers are deployed there.