Why Kashmir’s

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in North India, at 13.4 percent according to more recent regional surveys .

Among 18,724 government schools, 119 report zero enrolled students, yet 238 teachers remain assigned to them.

A further 848 schools record no new enrollments. 16,179 have fewer than 50 students each. Nearly 4,400 have been officially closed or merged in recent years due to extremely low attendance, most of them primary institutions.

Primary government schools were cut from 12,977 to 8,966. Middle schools, high schools, and even higher secondary schools were reclassified or shut down.

Learning outcomes reinforce the crisis.

ASER 2024 shows only around half of government school students can read simple words, compared to nearly 80 percent in private schools.

Numeracy is worse: just 63 percent recognize two-digit numbers, versus 88 percent in fee-paying schools.

Over half of Class VIII students in public schools cannot read a Class II-level text.

Experts attribute the decline to systemic neglect.

Dr. Farooq A.Wasil, a President's Best Teacher Award winner, warns that in Kashmir many students attend schools only formally.