In a remote tribal village in Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh (name changed) single-handedly teaches 41 children from classes 1 to 5. But their responsibilities are not limited to teaching children only.
Ramesh told BBC Telugu that he also has to look after administrative work like maintenance of the school, online training courses and mid-day meals.
"One hardly gets time to teach children. It is difficult to do justice to ensuring good education for them," Ramesh said.
Ramesh's name has been changed in this report as he had requested to keep his identity confidential due to fear of disciplinary action from the government.
The frustration of not being able to teach properly and the fear of expressing their concerns are common among many teachers in India's 'single-teacher schools'.
According to the Education Ministry's Unified District Information System for Education Plus' (UDISE+) Report 2025-26, there are more than one lakh schools across the country where there is only one teacher. About 30 lakh children study in these schools.
State-wise, Andhra Pradesh tops the list with more than 16,000 'single-teacher schools', the highest in India.
The number of one-teacher schools in India has declined every year since 2022-23, UDISE+ data shows. During this period, the number of such schools has decreased from more than 1.18 lakh to about 1.01 lakh.
But experts do not see this as a sign of progress.
"This decline does not reflect progress in schools such as better facilities or adequate teachers. This is mainly due to schools being merged with other nearby schools or closing them down altogether," says Mitra Ranjan, coordinator of the Right to Education Forum, a coalition of civil organizations and grassroots groups that work to promote the right to education.
Ramesh explains that in the five classes he teaches, there should be four periods each day. This means there should be around 20 periods in a day. But we are able to take only five or six periods in total.
However, having shorter periods does not mean that the workload has reduced, as teachers like Ramesh always have to remain busy due to administrative work.
At the same time, the story of Shyamdev Oraon, who teaches in a government school in Latehar district of Jharkhand, is also similar. He single-handedly teaches 111 children from class 1 to class 5.
Shyamdev told BBC Hindi, "I am the only teacher who runs the school and takes care of it. I can't even take the risk of falling ill because I can't take leave. A lot of children are dependent on me. How can I take leave?"
After Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand has the highest number of 'one teacher schools' in India. More than four lakh 40 thousand children study in such schools here. According to the UDISE+ report, the number of such schools in Jharkhand has increased compared to last year.
A teacher from Jhalawar, Rajasthan also tells about a similar difficult situation.
He says, "I have been managing the school single-handedly for many years. I have to do administrative work and sometimes also election related work. This affects the quality of studies and education."
According to the UDISE+ report, more than 1.7 lakh children study in 7,200 one-teacher schools in Rajasthan.
Another teacher from East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh also mentioned the problem of loneliness. He said, "In remote areas, there is no one to even sit with and have a cup of tea with. What could be a bigger punishment for us than working in a school where we are the only teacher."
Speaking to BBC, Andhra Pradesh's School Education Commissioner Thamim Ansaria admitted that teachers working in single-teacher schools have a heavy workload.
On states which have the highest number of single-teacher schools, Ansaria said the government encourages teachers to continue working even in schools where the number of students is very less.
He said, "We have identified the shortage in the number of teachers and the vacant posts will be filled in a phased manner. We have recently (in October 2025) recruited about 16 thousand teachers. This will go a long way in removing the shortage of teachers in the state."
But the work pressure on teachers does not show the complete picture of this problem. Another worrying aspect of single-teacher schools is that they are predominantly located in places where marginalized communities live.
"Single-teacher schools are disproportionately high in rural, remote, tribal and hard-to-reach areas," Sadhna Pandey, head of education at UNICEF India, told the BBC.
Development economist Jean Dreze says this aspect reflects the government's lack of seriousness and "discrimination through governance" on its part.
Sannaki Munna, a child rights activist working in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, explains how limited the options can be for children from marginalized communities.
"In Andhra Pradesh's coastal town of Machilipatnam, children from the fishing community depend on a school run by just one teacher. Similarly, in the alluvial islands of the Godavari River near Rajahmundry and Srikalahasti near Tirupati, children from Dalit communities have no other option but single-teacher schools," Sannaki Munna told the BBC.
He says, "I have seen teachers either avoid coming to school, or are reluctant to teach children because they come from marginalized communities. This should be seen as clear discrimination."
Experts told the BBC that the problem worsens for children living in remote tribal areas when it becomes difficult for them to reach school.
Thamim Ansaria said that the government has no information that teachers are not willing to teach students from marginalized communities.
“But if there is such a situation at the ground level, we will definitely assess it and retrain the teachers to overcome this problem,” he said.
It is noteworthy that there are more than one lakh schools in India which are running with only one teacher, while many posts of teachers are still lying vacant.
In response to repeated questions in Parliament, the Central Government has maintained that recruitment and deployment of teachers is a state subject.
However, according to the report of a standing committee of Parliament, about 9.83 lakh posts of teachers are vacant in the country. This report was presented in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha houses in August 2025.
Mitra Ranjan of 'Right to Education Forum' said that around one million posts of teachers are vacant across India.
"The concerned state governments should fill these vacant posts and follow the 'Right to Education Act'," he said.
The current situation is that in more than one lakh government schools of India, teachers are working alone to teach and handle other responsibilities.
He said, "Children come to class every day with bright smiles on their faces, and are eager to learn something new every day. For these children, I don't want to miss a single day of school, even if I fall ill."
