Govt school enrolment drops by 7.39 lakh in 3 years in Tamil Nadu: Anbumani Ramadoss

CHENNAI: Expressing concern over the sharp decline in student enrolment across state-run schools, PMK leader Dr Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday urged the Tamil Nadu government to treat recent central data as a wake-up call.

Warning that public schools cannot be revitalised without urgently addressing severe teacher shortages and infrastructure gaps, the PMK leader in a statement highlighted that over 11 years, government school strength has shrunk by over 43 per cent, while private school admissions continue to surge .

Citing data released by the Union Ministry of Education's Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), the former union minister said student enrollment in Tamil Nadu's government and private schools combined fell by 1.15 lakh over the past year.

"Crucially, the number of students in government schools alone has plummeted by 2.07 lakh," he said, adding, "the Tamil Nadu government must treat this as a serious warning bell ".

Also read Maharashtra hostels for SC, ST students run without wardens, overcrowded; some ‘bogus’: CAG report

Private school enrolment increases in Tamil Nadu: PMK Leader

"In the academic year 2024-25, the number of students enrolled in government schools stood at 45,10,612 and 2025-26, this figure dropped to 43.03 lakh, marking a loss of 2.07 lakh students in just one year," he pointed out, citing the data.

He claimed when compared to the 2022-23 academic year when enrollment was at 50,42,026, government schools have lost a staggering 7.39 lakh students in a span of just three years. Looking back at a wider timeline, government schools had 75.52 lakh students in 2015-16.

Over the last 11 years, enrollment has crashed by 32.49 lakh students and this represents a massive 43.02 per cent reduction in the student strength of government schools within 11 years, he noted based on the data.

Stating that conversely, over the past year alone, private school enrollment jumped from 60.26 lakh to 62.03 lakh, an increase of 1.77 lakh students, the PMK leader said, "Taking the last 11 years into account, the student strength in private schools has ballooned from 36.56 lakh to 62.03 lakh and private schools are clearly thriving at the expense of government schools' decline, which is a deeply worrying trend".

He alleged that the root causes behind this decline are the lack of adequate infrastructure and a dwindling number of teachers in government institutions.

"How can we improve or revitalise government schools when more than one lakh classrooms are currently operating without teachers, he questioned and added that realising this ground reality, the state government must take immediate steps to fortify school infrastructure and significantly scale up teacher recruitment".