The Madhya Pradesh High Court has taken serious notice of the severe shortage of teachers in government schools, which is affecting students’ education. A public interest petition has highlighted the issue, and during the hearing, the High Court expressed concern over the teacher shortage in the state. The court has asked the government to provide details of how many government schools exist in the state and how many teaching positions are vacant. The government has been asked to submit an affidavit in response. The next hearing is scheduled for February 24. Petition claims 102 schools have no teachers A petition was filed by farmer Lok Singh from Dindori, stating that it has been over 15 years since the Right to Education (RTE) Act was implemented. However, the state government has still failed to fulfil its legal duty to appoint teachers in many government schools. The petition states that 102 government schools are running without any teachers, while 499 schools are functioning with inadequate teaching staff. Advocate Rahul Deshmukh, representing the petitioner, told the court that the shortage of schools and teachers is putting students’ future at risk. When the court’s amicus curiae (friend of the court) requested that the petition be considered beyond just Dindori district, the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf asked the government to clarify the total number of government schools in the state and the number of vacant teacher posts. Jabalpur schools also facing crisis Senior advocate Gulati told the court that 54 schools in Jabalpur alone are on the verge of closure due to teacher shortage. He urged the court to ask the government for the total number of vacant teaching posts in the state so that necessary court directions could be issued to fill them. Decline in student numbers in government schools According to data for the 2024–25 and 2025–26 academic sessions, student enrolment in many schools has been declining. Around 21,193 secondary schools in the state have fewer than 20 students. Similarly, about 8,533 schools are running with just one teacher. There is also a major shortage of physical education teachers. Only 700 teachers are available for nearly 92,000 schools. The UDISE report reveals that 20 schools have no teacher at all, while 4,128 schools have only one teacher. Additionally, 5,179 schools have fewer than 10 students. Compared to last year, 3.44 lakh fewer students enrolled in government schools this year, showing a continuous decline in annual admissions.