The West Bengal government has directed district administrations to inspect 4,133 schools that have reported zero enrolment. According to School Education Minister Dipak Barman, the move aims to assess whether the infrastructure of these schools can be put to alternative public use.
The decision follows the release of Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) data, which shows that West Bengal accounts for 4,133 of the 5,663 zero-enrolment schools in the country. An education department official noted that 19,502 teachers are listed against these schools.
Barman stated that the UDISE+ figures appear to reflect anomalies in data uploaded by some private schools. He explained that many of these schools did not upload data properly, resulting in zero student enrolment despite having teachers.
The school education department has directed every district to constitute a committee to undertake physical verification of zero-enrolment schools. The committees will prepare an inventory of the schools’ land, buildings, and other infrastructure, and assess their suitability for alternative public purposes.
The committees have been asked to submit their reports by December 2027. Possible alternative uses for the schools include training centres, health centres, and other community or public-service facilities. Barman emphasized that the exercise does not amount to a blanket decision to shut or convert zero-enrolment schools.
The state is also working to address the imbalance in teacher deployment. According to the latest UDISE data, 6,769 schools in West Bengal have only one teacher, catering to 2,29,569 students.
Leave a Reply