No roofs, no toilets, no teachers: TOI check finds minuses in Rajasthan govt schools

ToI reporters visited Rajasthan government schools in six districts after a controversy over volunteers inspecting campuses. They discovered a troubling lack of infrastructure, unsafe conditions, and staffing issues across the state.

In Kota, a primary school with 78 students operates from municipal parking kiosks and tin sheds. Three teachers are on deputation without permanent teaching posts. A PWD survey revealed 61 ruined school buildings and many unsafe classrooms.

Some schools in Barmer, Jaisalmer, and Balotra lack buildings, while senior-secondary streams are short on teachers due to transfers. In Piplodi, Jhalawar, where a roof collapse killed seven children in July 2025, classes still take place in a farmer's two-room home while a new school remains unfinished.

In Sanganer, Jaipur, 404 students from one school are crammed into four rooms after another building was deemed unsafe. Overall, 611 government schools have no building, 2,047 lack toilets, and 1,049 are without drinking water. Additionally, 3,768 buildings and 83,783 classrooms are severely dilapidated.

Rajasthan also has 7,200 single-teacher schools and 150,000 vacant teacher positions. Despite its national reputation for producing top students, Kota's government education system lags behind private coaching centers. Last week, a CJP delegation led by Ashutosh Ranka was chased away by a mob after attempting an inspection in Jaipur.

However, the state's BJP government has pledged Rs 12,000 crore to school construction over three years. At Govt Senior Secondary School in Vigyan Nagar, a JEE and NEET center, nine classrooms need major repairs, and two are unusable, with no funds allocated for repairs. Mold has damaged functional classrooms, and the school's "smart classroom" has been vandalized.

In Shiv Nagar, a single-teacher Sanskrit school runs out of a rented room, with enrollment dropping to 8-10 students. Former ward councillor Dhanraj Gurjar Chechi has submitted memorandums for a permanent building but to no avail. In Devripunia, Govt Upper Primary School, 130 students share three decades-old classrooms, often sitting under trees or on open ground due to lack of expansion. Drinking water comes via a temporary connection from an adjoining field.

The Public Works Department survey found 61 entirely ruined buildings and two unsafe classrooms in 318 school buildings, with only partial demolition of 41 full and 29 partial structures so far. District collector Peeyush Samaria's office has no record of inspecting any government school, and the CM's constituency has seen little improvement in its education system.