SHWETA KAMAT MAHATME
PANAJI
Goa has shut or merged 16 government primary schools over the last two academic years due to dwindling student enrolment, while another 135 schools are now at risk of a similar fate as they have fewer than 10 students, according to the latest UDISE+ 2025-26 data released by the Union Ministry of Education.
The data shows that nine government primary schools were either closed or merged during the 2025-26 academic year after seven such schools met the same fate in 2024-25. Consequently, the number of operational government primary schools declined from 655 in 2023-24 to 648 in 2024-25 and further to 639 in 2025-26.
The shrinking network of government primary schools comes amid a growing concentration of institutions with extremely low enrolment. Of Goa's 1,473 schools, around 9.2 per cent recorded fewer than 10 students during the 2025-26 academic year, almost double the national average of 5.5 per cent. The proportion has also increased from 8.8 per cent in 2024-25, indicating that the problem has continued to worsen.
Based on the latest enrolment figures, around 135 schools currently have fewer than 10 students and could face closure or merger in the coming years if the trend persists. Despite the large number of underutilised schools, the UDISE+ data shows that State did not have a single school with zero enrolment during 2025-26, suggesting that none of its institutions had become completely defunct.
The UDISE+ data further shows that 13.5 per cent of schools enrolled between 11 and 20 students, significantly higher than the national average of 8.3 per cent. The proportion remained unchanged from the previous academic year.
Around 9.8 per cent of schools had enrolment between 21 and 30 students, while another 5.5 per cent had 31 to 40 students. In comparison, 10.2 per cent of schools had 21-30 students and 5.6 per cent had 31-40 students in 2024-25.
During 2025-26, Goa had 771 government schools, of which 639 were primary schools. A year earlier, the state had 780 government schools, including 648 primary schools.
Across all managements and school levels, Goa recorded a total student enrolment of 2,97,337 during the academic year. The state had 849 primary schools, 66 middle schools and 559 secondary and higher secondary schools.
The report also indicates that Goa continues to maintain a favourable pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) at most stages of schooling. The PTR stood at 1:11 at the foundational stage, 1:13 at the preparatory stage and 1:19 at the secondary stage, compared to the national averages of 1:10, 1:12 and 1:21, respectively.
However, the state emerged as an exception at the middle stage, where the PTR stood at 1:28 against the national average of 1:17, indicating comparatively higher student load per teacher at that level.
