This pattern becomes sharper when broken down by social groups. For Scheduled Castes in 2024-25, dropout at the primary level is nearly absent, but upper primary and secondary still show 4.4% and 15.4%, For 2024-25 in Gujarat, dropout rates among Scheduled Tribes (ST) stand at 0.2% in primary classes, 7.7% at the upper-primary level, and a significantly higher 20.2% in secondary education.

The data on government school enrolment adds another troubling layer. Even as dropout rates surge at higher grades, the state is simultaneously witnessing a growing number of schools with less than ten or even zero students.

This figure ballooned from 677 schools in 2022-23 to 906 in 2023-24, before dipping to 748 in 2024-25 still significantly high.

Yet the teacher count in these near-empty schools has also climbed: from 1,391 teachers in 2022-23 to 1,641 in 2023-24, with a dip to 1,353 in 2024-25.

The imbalance is stark: more teachers but fewer students raising critical questions on deployment, efficiency, and long-term planning.

The backdrop to these anomalies is the steady reduction in the total number of government schools. Gujarat had 35,040 schools in 2019-20; the count slid gradually to 34,597 by 2023-24, recovering slightly to 34,638 in 2024-25.

This shrinking footprint, combined with rising dropout rates and thinning enrolments in many campuses, paints a picture of consolidation without commensurate revitalisation.