Mess in Government Schools and KVs- JNVs

The Union Ministry of Education has reported a decline in enrolment for classes 1 to 8 in government schools across 13 states and Union Territories, with Uttar Pradesh seeing the most significant drop of over 28 lakh students  last year. Enrolment of students in government schools has fallen in Manipur from 26.8% in 2018 to 13.4% in 2021, says 16th Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2021. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 revealed a decline in enrolment in government schools in Manipur, along with a sharp increase in the proportion of children not enrolled. The Arunachal Pradesh government has ordered the closure of 386 government schools across the state that has recorded zero student enrolment in the current academic year. This decline in government school enrolment was accompanied by a rise in children not enrolled in any school. The matter of enrolment of students came up in meetings that the Education Ministry held with the states in March and April to discuss their projects for the 2025-26 year under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. In 11 of the 23 states and Union Territories, for which meeting minutes have been made public so far, the Union ministry has raised the matter of increasing enrolments in private schools, and decreasing enrolments in government and aided schools, despite these states having a higher number of government schools.
If one goes by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, only one in four children in class 3 could read text from a class 2 textbook while one in three could perform basic subtraction. That these basic levels are the highest in over a decade only points at gaping holes at the quality of education being imparted in government schools across rural India. This is exacerbated by the fact that there just aren’t enough teachers. As per UDISE+ 2023-24 reports, which collect data from government and private schools across India, over 1.1 lakh schools, have only one teacher.
“It is very shocking to see that Kendriya Vidyalayas have so many vacancies. KVs are top-grade, exemplar schools. If this is the condition of KVs, then what will be the reality of the rest?” Over 8,900 posts of teachers and non-teaching staff were lying vacant in Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) as of December last year; Rs 620 crore unspent. Over 6,800 posts of teachers (including principals and vice-principals) and non-teaching staff were lying vacant in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). These are the findings of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women, Children, Education, Youth and Sports which were presented in Parliament on 26 March this year.
Even as government continues to pump in thousands of crores into KVs and JNVs, unspent funds and unfilled teachers’ vacancies indicate how far it is from actualising its goal of secondary education for all by 2030 — as envisioned in the New Education Policy, 2020.The lion’s share (79.75%) of the total Rs 78,572 crore, allocated to Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL) for 2025-26, has been earmarked for centrally-sponsored schemes such as the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan or PM SHRI. Meanwhile, 19.64 percent of the total funds or Rs 15,430.58 crore was allocated to four autonomous bodies that come under DSEL, including KVS and JNVs.
KVS was registered as a society in 1962 and was tasked with opening and managing Central schools or Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) for children of transferable Central government employees. As of October 2024, there were 1,256 KVs with 13.56 lakh students enrolled in them. In 2024-25, KVS was allocated a budget of Rs 9,302 crore, which was revised to Rs 8,727 crore. Of which, it spent Rs 8,105 crore, which means over Rs 620 crore remain unspent. The Committee noted that the “reduction of allocation at RE 2024-25 stage when there are huge numbers of teaching and non-teaching posts are lying vacant, is unwarranted and avoidable.” It added that such a large number of vacancies “inevitably hamper its functioning and reputation.”  According to the report, 8,977 posts of teachers and nonteaching staff were lying vacant in KVs as of 31 December 2024. Of these, over 7,400 posts are for teachers. An educationist attributed the reduction in budget allocation primarily to the delay in release of funds from the Department of Education.
‘No Subject-Teachers Could Lead to More Students Dropping out of School.’ “If the government delays the release of funds, naturally a significant chunk remains under-utilised. This, in turn, leads to the allocation getting reduced during the revision stage.” The reduction in funds could also be due to the discontinuation of certain welfare schemes or scholarship programmes. On being asked about the 7,400 vacant teachers’ posts, do schools have adequate subject matter expert (SME) teachers? “An educationist explained that as students go from middle to secondary classes, subjects such as Mathematics or Physics get tougher. SME teachers are crucial for building fundamental concepts and preparing students for higher studies. In their absence, this essential link is broken, leading many students to drop out of school midway through their studies. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the dropout rate is highest among senior secondary (classes 9-12) — twice as much as that in middle school (classes 6-8).Incidentally, Classes 9-10 and 11-12 have the least number of teachers in government schools, as per the UDISE+ 2023-24 report.
‘Anguished Over Increase in Contractual Hiring in KVs’: Another concerning trend is the sharp increase in contractual hiring by KVS—in fact, twice as many contractual teachers were recruited in 2024, when compared to 2023.The Committee states that it was “anguished over the increasing number of contractual appointments in model schools like KVs.” It stated two major reasons for it: Contractual teachers cannot give their 100 percent and cannot concentrate on teaching when they are in a quest for permanent jobs due to lesser pay and Contractual recruitment undermines reservations for those belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), and Persons with Disabilities (PwD) in these jobs. The committee also noted that while 87.4 percent KVs are functioning in a permanent building, 192 KVs are in temporary accommodation. Of these 192, construction of a permanent structure is at various stages in 101 KVs, whereas it is at the planning stage in 49 KVs. However, in 42 KVs, construction could not be taken up due to non-availability of land.
One in Four Posts Vacant at Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS): NVS is an autonomous organisation that runs and manages Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), which were established with the aim to provide quality education under a residential setup to students predominantly belonging to rural areas, irrespective of their socio-economic status. Out of 689 sanctioned JNVs, 653 JNVs are functional. The committee expressed its concern over reducing the allocation to Rs 5,305 crore in FY26 from Rs 5,800 crore in FY25, particularly “when 23.6 percent and 26.6 percent vacancies of teaching and non-teaching staffs, respectively, are lying vacant.” As of 31 December 2024, over 6,800 posts of teaching and non-teaching staff are laying vacant in JNVs—which is nearly 25 percent of the sanctioned posts. In other words, one in every four posts is lying vacant in JNVs. Of these, 4,022, or 58.6 percent of the vacant posts, are for teachers including Principals and Vice Principals.
Vacancies in the non-teaching staff include 1,340 posts of Driver, Sweeper-cum-Chowkidar, Chowkidar which have been currently outsourced as they were not getting filled up. ”JNVs are mostly residential schools for children who can’t commute daily as they live in remote areas or tribal belts or areas with difficult geographical terrain. They also cater to children whose parents can’t help them with their studies. An insufficient number of teachers here would directly impact the quality of education being imparted to these children. An educationist asserted that the larger impact is the decline in parents’ trust in the public education system, which, in turn means a paradigm shift towards private schooling.
(Writer can be reached at: [email protected])