Karnataka has 188 schools with zero enrolment this year, including 160 lower primary, 29 higher primary, and three high schools. Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa shared this data during the Legislative Council session, answering K.S. Naveen’s question. Tumakuru district has the highest number of zero enrolment schools at 45. Other districts with many zero enrolment schools include Kalaburagi (21), Kolar (20), Koppal (18), Bidar (17), and Chitradurga (12). Most zero enrolment schools are lower primary ones. Additionally, Bengaluru South, Hassan, and Koppal each have one high school with zero enrolment. The government also found that 6,675 schools have only one teacher. Hassan leads with 586 single-teacher schools, followed by Tumakuru (426), Kolar (347), Mandya (338), Chickballapur (334), Bengaluru South (298), and Mysuru (294). Development educationist Niranjanaradhya V.P. described the situation as "pathetic conditions of government schools in the State." He explained that the decline in enrolment is not due to parents losing interest but because the education department has failed to provide proper facilities under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Karnataka’s RTE compliance is 23.6%, much below the national average. There are 62,650 vacant teacher posts out of 2,37,115 sanctioned for elementary and high schools. Niranjanaradhya questioned how poor parents would trust public schools amid such conditions. The government faces a tough challenge in improving school infrastructure and filling vacant teacher positions to bring children back to government schools.