MP High Court Issues Notice To State On PIL Alleging 1,895 Govt Schools Are Functioning Without Teachers
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notice on a public interest litigation moved by an advocate, alleging a severe crisis in the State's public education system, including the functioning of 1,895 government schools without a single teacher.The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal ordered:"Issue notice to the respondents on payment of process...
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notice on a public interest litigation moved by an advocate, alleging a severe crisis in the State's public education system, including the functioning of 1,895 government schools without a single teacher.
The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal ordered:
"Issue notice to the respondents on payment of process fee within seven working day by RAD mode, notices be returnable within four weeks".
The petition relies on the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) Compliance Audit Report No. 10 of 2025, which audited 66,814 government schools in Madhya Pradesh for the period between 2018 and March 2023. According to the plea, 1,895 schools, including 1,379 schools with enrolled students, were operating without any teachers.
The plea further states that 435 schools with no students nevertheless had teachers posted there. It also claims that, despite the absence of sanctioned posts in 320 schools, 128 teachers had been deployed in such institutions.
The petition claims that there has been a 67% drop in High School pass percentages from 2018-19 and 38% drop in 2021-22.
The petition relies on facts published by Dainik Bhaskar in Indore Edition on April 24/25, 2026, stating that the DEO did not conduct inspection in Indore, Mandla and Sheopur with short inspection targets by 100 per cent. It noted that the inspection fell short by 81 to 99 per cent in other districts as well.
Additionally, the petition alleges that 14 officials from selected offices of District Education Officers, Block Education Officers and District Institutes of Education and Training had been attached to other departments, with salaries and allowances amounting to ₹3.27 crore being borne by the School Education Department.
Claiming that these deficiencies violate the fundamental right to education guaranteed under Article 21A of the Constitution, particularly for students from rural and economically weaker backgrounds, the petitioner has sought directions to immediately deploy teachers to the 1,895 "zero-teacher" schools identified in the CAG report within a fixed time frame.
The PIL also seeks the constitution of a high-level committee to investigate the alleged irrational deployment of teachers and directions to formulate and implement a time-bound policy to address the teacher shortage in rural areas.
Case Title: Saurabh Tripathi v State of Madhya Pradesh, WP-23726-2026
For State: Government Advocate Anubhav Jain
For Union: Assistant Solicitor General Sunil Kumar Jain with Advocate Dev Sharma