Claim 09 · Indore, Madhya Pradesh · 19 September 2026
1 lakh government schools closed under Modi government.
“1 lakh government schools closed under Modi government.”Rahul Gandhi, Chhatron Ki Goonj rally, Indore, 19 September 2026
Rated Misleading
The facts
The official data does not record one lakh individual closure orders. It shows that the number of government schools fell from approximately 11.07 lakh in 2014–15 to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25, a net reduction of around 94,000.
The reduction includes closures, mergers, consolidation of extremely small schools and administrative rationalisation. This is due to declining child population, migration, changing parental preferences and the merger of under-enrolled schools contributed to this change.
Why consolidate some tiny schools? Because a school with five children and one teacher handling several classes is not automatically superior to a larger school offering subject teachers, laboratories, libraries, sports and peer learning. Counting signboards is not the same as measuring education.204
While the number of government schools declined, the number of teachers increased from roughly 90 lakh to more than one crore. That rather inconvenient fact demolishes the theatrical suggestion that the government simply removed schools and abandoned education.205
Education is on the Concurrent List, and the Union government’s parliamentary reply expressly states that opening, closing, merging and rationalising schools are decisions of the respective state governments and UT administrations. Rahul Gandhi cannot blame Modi government for every school merged by a state government and then suddenly discover federalism whenever Congress is questioned.206
NOW LET US APPLY RAHUL GANDHI’S FORMULA TO CONGRESS-RULED STATES:
In Karnataka, the number of government schools declined from 50,486 in 2014–15 to 48,527 in 2025–26, a net reduction of 1,959 schools. 9 of these 12 years covers Congress government. Why doesn't Rahul Gandhi question Congress now?207
Under the present Congress government, Karnataka’s government-school enrolment fell by approximately 4.7 lakh students between 2022–23 and 2024–25. Apparently, when enrollment falls in a Congress state it is a “policy challenge”; elsewhere it becomes the “destruction of education.”208
In Congress-ruled Telangana, official data showed 2,081 government schools with zero enrolment in 2024–25, with more than 1,400 zero-teacher, zero-student schools reportedly slated for temporary closure. Will Rahul Gandhi demand that empty buildings remain open simply so Congress can count the nameplates?209