India’s education blackout: Govt data shows 1.52 lakh schools without electricity

The Ministry of Education's Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+) recently revealed statistics showing that up to 1.52 lakh of India's more than 14.71 lakh schools lack functional electricity.

Of the 14.71 lakh schools, 10.17 lakh are managed by the government, 9.12 lakh of which have operational electricity, and 1.52 lakh do not.

In addition to government-run schools, there are 4.54 lakh government-aided, private, and unaided schools, of which 4.07 lakh have electricity that works.

Although 14.47 lakh schools have drinking water facilities, only 14.11 lakh of the schools have operational drinking water facilities.

Of the 10.17 lakh government schools, 9.78 lakh have working drinking water facilities.

There are 4.33 lakh functioning drinking water systems among the 4.46 lakh government-aided, private, and other schools.

Of the 14.71 lakh schools, 14.50 lakh have restrooms; however, only 14.04 lakh of those restrooms are operational.

According to the survey, around 67,000 schools lack functional restrooms, with government institutions accounting for the majority of these schools.

When it comes to providing facilities that are accessible to people with disabilities, the situation is far worse.

Just 3.37 lakh of the 10.17 lakh government schools—or 33.2% of all schools—have restrooms that are accessible to people with disabilities. Only 30.6% of them are operational, though.

In government-aided schools, the situation is marginally better; out of over 80,313 schools, around 35,640 (44.4%) had restrooms that are accessible to people with disabilities.

Just 7.69 lakh (52.3%) of the 14.71 lakh schools have ramps with handrails, while 11.34 lakh (77%) of the schools have ramps.

According to the report, total enrollment dropped to 24.8 crore in 2023-24, down from 25.18 crore in 2022-23, marking a 6% decrease.

The fact that just 57.2% of schools have working computers, 53.9% have internet, and 52.3% have ramps highlights the serious inequalities in digital preparedness and accessibility.

Just 7.48 lakh (50%) of the 14.71 lakh schools have access to computers for learning and teaching.

Additionally, 8.41 lakh schools have computer facilities, and 7.92 lakh schools have Internet access.

Of the 10.17 lakh government schools in the subcategory, only 4.42 lakh (43.5%) have computers that can be used for teaching.

In contrast, up to 2.34 lakh (70.9%) of the 3.31 lakh private unaided schools have this feature.

Up to 24,580 of the 14.71 lakh schools lack access to drinking water on campus.

Merely 17.5% of schools—or 2.57 lakh out of 14.71 lakh total—have co-curricular activity rooms or arts and crafts areas.

Only 9.9% of the 10.17 lakh government schools have an arts and crafts room, which is a lower percentage.

Just 1.6 lakh of the 2.86 lakh schools with secondary divisions have an integrated science laboratory.

Around 52% of the 1.19 lakh government secondary schools (59,972) have a science lab.

Additionally, just 1.54 lakh (10.5%) of the 14.71 lakh schools have solar panel facilities, indicating a low uptake of solar panels in schools.

Just 89,746 (8.8%) of the 10.17 lakh government schools had solar panels installed.