NEW DELHI: A new form of student protest is emerging on social media, with schoolchildren taking to the streets to demand basic facilities — from teachers and usable toilets to playgrounds and even roads leading to their schools. While the grievances are often local, government data shows that many of the problems highlighted by the students are widespread across the country.
In Hamirpur, around 300 children marched 6km to the collectorate demanding a usable road to their school. In Lucknow, 250 girls protested over teacher shortages and inadequate basic amenities. In Jaipur, students with disabilities raised concerns over toilets, sanitation and unsafe classrooms.
The nature and scale of the problems vary across states. Jharkhand has 36 pupils per teacher, while only 19.7% of schools in West Bengal have internet connectivity. In Meghalaya, just 6.3% of schools have toilets for children with special needs. Karnataka has 8,042 single-teacher schools, accounting for 10.8% of its total schools.
The latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) NE-26 report highlights similarly uneven access to school infrastructure and digital facilities across the country.
India has 14,66,682 schools, of which 10,03,051, or 68.4%, are run by state governments. Central government schools account for 2,194, while 3,41,689 are recognised private unaided schools and 79,261 are government-aided institutions.
The country has 24.7 crore students and about 1 crore teachers, resulting in an overall pupil-teacher ratio of 24. However, teacher deployment remains uneven. More than 29 lakh students are enrolled in 1,00,843 single-teacher schools. At the other end of the spectrum, 20,667 teachers are posted in 5,663 schools that have no enrolled students.
Digital infrastructure also remains patchy. Internet connectivity is available in 67.4% of schools and functional computers in 63.1%, while digital libraries are available in only 7.1%. Playgrounds are available in 81.9% of schools.
Accessibility for children with special needs remains another major gap. Only 40.1% of schools have toilets designed to be friendly for children with special needs, while 79.7% have ramps and 58.2% have ramps with handrails.
The divide is also visible between government and private schools. Functional girls’ toilets are available in 95.3% of state government schools and 96.9% of private unaided schools. However, functional toilets for children with special needs are available in only 35.6% of state government schools, compared with 44.7% of private unaided schools.
Private schools also have higher levels of digital infrastructure. Internet connectivity is available in 79.2% of private unaided schools, compared with 63.1% of government schools. Functional computers are available in 74% of private schools against 59.4% of government schools. Digital libraries are available in 11.2% of private schools and 5.6% of government schools.
Government schools, however, perform better on certain accessibility measures. Ramps are available in 88.2% of government schools, compared with 60.4% of private schools, while ramps with handrails are available in 66.9% and 36.8%, respectively.
The emerging protests by schoolchildren therefore point to a broader challenge: while India’s school system has expanded significantly in scale, access to teachers, digital resources, basic amenities and disability-friendly infrastructure remains highly uneven. What may appear on social media as isolated demands from students in individual schools is reflected in national data showing persistent gaps in the quality and availability of basic educational infrastructure.
