The Dakshina Kannada district is facing a troubling trend in education, with 14 schools failing to enroll a single student for the 2024-2025 academic year. This issue spans government, aided, and private institutions.
The affected schools include two government schools, six aided schools, and six private schools, located across various taluks: Sulya (2), Bantwala (2), Belthangadi (1), Mangalore North (5), Moodbidire (1), and Mangalore South (3).
This phenomenon has been worsening over the years. In 2023-2024, 13 schools had zero enrollments, 22 schools in 2022-2023, and 10 schools in 2021-2022, totaling 59 schools in the past four years (11 government, 31 aided, and 17 private).
A significant factor is the lack of teacher recruitment in aided schools, placing a heavy burden on management boards. Government schools are less affected, with only two schools having zero enrollments.
Notably, Mangalore North and South taluks have seen a significant increase in zero student schools, with 18 and 14 schools respectively. In contrast, Puttur-Kadaba taluk has maintained enrollments in all schools for the past two years.
The Education Department plans to review and address the issues leading to zero enrollments, aiming to provide quality education to all students in the district. According to DDPI D.K, Venkatesh Subraya Patagara, “The enrollment of children may have decreased due to a shortage of teachers in aided schools. We will review the availability of a supportive environment for future enrollment of students in the zero student list schools.”