Kolkata accounts for over 34 pc of zero-enrolment schools in Bengal

Kolkata alone accounts for more than 34 per cent of the zero-enrolment schools in West Bengal, according to internal data from the state school education department.

Zero-enrolment schools are those schools that currently have no students enrolled. As per the data, there are 348 such schools spread across 23 districts in the state. Since many of these schools have remained without students since 2020, the state government has decided to shut them down.

Of the total, 119 schools are in Kolkata, constituting 34.19 per cent of all zero-enrolment schools in the state. The second-highest is North 24 Parganas with 60 schools (17.24 per cent), followed by Howrah with 24 (6.89 per cent) and East Burdwan with 18 (5.17 per cent).

At the other end of the spectrum, Cooch Behar in north Bengal has just one zero-enrolment school, making it the best-performing district in this regard. Birbhum and Kalimpong districts each have only two such schools.

BJP state general secretary Jagannath Chattopadhyay called the figures a "pathetic reflection" of the state's school education system. “Many of these zero-enrolment schools are more than 50 years old. Besides these, there are several other schools where enrolment is extremely low. The government plans to close those in phases too,” he said.

He added, “While other states are opening new schools, West Bengal is shutting down existing ones. After 14 years of Mamata Banerjee’s rule, this is the state of education.”

Officials in the state education department, including education minister Bratya Basu, have remained silent on the issue.

Earlier this month, the opposition also criticised the state government over what they termed the growing exodus of undergraduate students to institutions in other states. BJP leaders cited the government’s decision to extend the deadline for college admission applications by two weeks as evidence of poor student interest in local colleges.