Gandhinagar News: A major administrative dispute has erupted in over 2,000 one-teacher schools in Gujarat’s primary education department. The Union Education Ministry’s latest UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) 2025-26 report revealed that 2,335 primary schools in the state are running with only one teacher. After the report came out, the Gujarat Education Department issued show cause notices to the District Primary Education Officers (DPEOs) and Administrative Officers (AOs) of all the districts. Allegations of “administrative failure, laziness and dereliction of duty” were made.
Now the officials have given a befitting reply to the government and clarified that they have no administrative authority to transfer or transfer teachers internally. According to Indian Express news, after the publication of the UDISE+ report, the Director of Primary Education (DPE) issued show cause notices under the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE Act, 2009) and ‘Gujarat Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules’119 to all DPEOs and AOs across the state.
The notice referred to Section 25(1) of the RTE Act, 2009 and said that it is mandatory to maintain pupil-teacher ratio in every primary school. According to the law no school can be run on the basis of one teacher. The education department termed the officials’ attitude as a “serious administrative and constitutional failure” and warned of strict disciplinary action, including withholding of annual pay increments. Also instructions were given to make arrangements for teachers and submit the certificates immediately.
“Policy decisions are in the hands of the government, we have no power”
Responding to the show-cause notice, DPEOs posted in various districts of the state have expressed their helplessness. A DPEO, on condition of anonymity, said district officials have no legal or administrative authority to transfer teachers inter-district or intra-district. Officials in their reply said that this policy decision is taken at the state government level. When they have no authority to appoint or transfer teachers, how will they address the shortage of teachers in the schools under their control.
“Process of new recruitment and closure of school continues”
Clarifying the entire matter, Director of Primary Education Prakash Trivedi said- DPEO and AO have submitted replies and clarifications to the notices. At present no penal action has been taken against any officer. Where there are zero teachers, temporary arrangements have been made, which are not reflected in the UDISE data. The state government has decided to appoint permanent teachers in these one-teacher and zero-teacher schools in the ongoing recruitment process. Apart from this, schools with zero enrollment have been instructed to close and the process is underway.
Shocking statistics of UDISE+ 2025-26 report
A report by the Union Education Ministry’s digital platform UDISE+ has revealed an alarming picture of Gujarat’s primary education system. There is only one teacher appointed in 2,335 schools of the state and 80,053 children study under his guidance. On the other hand, there are many schools where there are 74 teacher posts even though not a single student is registered. However, if we take the average of the total 53,425 government and private schools in the state, 7 teachers are employed per school and the average enrollment is 217 students.
