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World Teachers’ Day: Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of single-teacher schools at 16,357 in 2025-26. It was followed by Jharkhand with 9,827, and Maharashtra with 9,269.
World Teachers’ Day is observed every year on October 5. (AI Image)
As India marks World Teachers’ Day 2026, the latest school education data shows that more than one lakh schools across the country continue to operate with just one teacher, even as the overall number of teachers has increased and pupil-teacher ratios have improved.
According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2025-26, India had 1,00,843 single-teacher schools across all types of school management. The number declined by around 3% from the previous year, but remains a significant feature of the country’s school education system.
States With Most Single-Teacher Schools
Among states and Union Territories, Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of single-teacher schools at 16,357 in 2025-26. It was followed by Jharkhand with 9,827, Maharashtra with 9,269, Karnataka with 8,042, Uttar Pradesh with 7,874, Rajasthan with 7,200 and West Bengal with 6,769.
Other states with sizeable numbers included Telangana (4,793), Tamil Nadu (3,957), Assam (3,159), Himachal Pradesh (3,128), Uttarakhand (2,655), Chhattisgarh (2,461), Gujarat (2,335) and Madhya Pradesh (2,269).
State-wise number of single-teacher schools
Andhra Pradesh: 16,357 single-teacher schools in 2025-26
Jharkhand: 9,827
Maharashtra: 9,269
Karnataka: 8,042
Uttar Pradesh: 7,874
Rajasthan: 7,200
West Bengal: 6,769
Telangana: 4,793
Tamil Nadu: 3,957
Assam; 3,159
Himachal Pradesh: 3,128
Uttarakhand: 2,655
Chhattisgarh: 2,461
Gujarat: 2,335
Madhya Pradesh: 2,269
Bihar: 2,006
Punjab: 1,749
Odisha: 1,458
Jammu & Kashmir: 1,544
Haryana: 1,278
UDISE+ data shows that the number of school teachers increased from 94.83 lakh in 2022-23 to 1.027 crore in 2025-26, an increase of about 8.3% over the four-year period.
The latest UDISE+ report also shows improvements in pupil-teacher ratios across school stages. The national pupil-teacher ratio stood at 10 at the foundational stage, 12 at the preparatory stage, 17 at the middle stage and 21 at the secondary stage in 2025-26.
Why Do Single-Teacher Schools Matter?
A school with only one teacher may have a relatively small enrolment, but that teacher can still be responsible for teaching multiple classes or handling several administrative and school-related responsibilities.
The latest UDISE+ figures therefore highlight a different aspect of teacher availability: not simply how many teachers India has, but how they are distributed across schools.
The Ministry of Education has said that teacher recruitment and deployment are primarily handled by state governments and Union Territory administrations. The sanctioned strength, working strength and vacancies in government schools are maintained by the respective states and UTs.
However, the number of single-teacher schools has been falling over the past few years. UDISE+ data shows that India had 1,18,190 single-teacher schools in 2022-23, which fell to 1,10,971 in 2023-24, 1,04,125 in 2024-25 and 1,00,843 in 2025-26. This represents a decline of about 17,347 schools, or nearly 15%, over four years.
Quick Answers
Ask News18According to UDISE+ 2025-26 data, Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of single-teacher schools in the country with 16,357 schools.
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October 05, 2026, 10:54 IST
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