New Delhi, July 29: Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of single-teacher schools in India, accounting for 16.22% of the country’s total, according to the latest UDISE+ 2025-26 data tabled in the Rajya Sabha by the Union Ministry of Education. The data shows that 16,357 schools in Andhra Pradesh are functioning with only one teacher out of 100,843 single-teacher schools across the country.
The figures were released in response to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala regarding teacher vacancies, single-teacher schools and measures being taken to address teacher shortages.
The data shows that nearly one out of every six (16.22%) single-teacher schools in India is located in Andhra Pradesh, making it the worst-affected state in the country on this parameter. The state’s share is significantly higher than Jharkhand (9.75%), the second-highest, and Maharashtra (9.19%), the third-highest. Karnataka accounts for 7.98%, Uttar Pradesh 7.81%, Rajasthan 7.14%, West Bengal 6.71%, Telangana 4.75%, Tamil Nadu 3.92% and Assam 3.13% of the national total.
The concentration of single-teacher schools is particularly striking. The top three states—Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra—together account for 35.16% of all single-teacher schools in the country. The top five states contribute 50.95%, while the top ten states account for 76.60% of the national total, indicating that the problem is concentrated in a relatively small group of states.
What Does a Single-Teacher School Mean?
A single-teacher school is one where a lone teacher is responsible for teaching students across one or more grades while also managing administrative responsibilities. Such schools often face challenges including multi-grade teaching, limited classroom instruction, disruption of academic activities whenever the teacher is absent and increased administrative workload.
The parliamentary reply does not identify the reasons behind Andhra Pradesh recording the highest number of single-teacher schools.
Center Puts Responsibility on States
In its reply, the Union Government reiterated that education is a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, and therefore recruitment, deployment and service conditions of teachers are primarily the responsibility of State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. The Ministry stated that teacher vacancies arise due to retirements, resignations, creation of new posts, rationalisation of teacher deployment and changes in enrolment.
The Centre said it regularly advises States and Union Territories to fill vacant teaching posts through transparent, merit-based recruitment and provides financial assistance under Samagra Shiksha to help maintain the prescribed pupil-teacher ratio in schools. It also highlighted the implementation of the NISHTHA teacher-training programme to improve learning outcomes.
According to the UDISE+ data, Government schools in Andhra Pradesh have 74,616 primary teachers, 7,254 upper primary teachers, 87,545 secondary teachers and 31,710 higher secondary teachers. However, the Ministry clarified that the sanctioned strength of teachers and the number of vacancies are maintained by individual State Governments and were therefore not furnished in the parliamentary reply.
One of the Key Tasks for Nara Lokesh
With Andhra Pradesh accounting for 16.22% of India’s single-teacher schools, the issue is likely to be one of the most significant challenges confronting the State’s school education sector. Reducing the number of single-teacher schools and strengthening teacher availability will be among the key tasks before Education Minister Nara Lokesh, who has been pursuing reforms across the education sector.
