Jaipur, July 23 -- At least 169 schools in Rajasthan have been merged in the last two years due to zero enrolment, the ministry of education said on Monday in response to a question raised by the Barmer MP Ummedaram Beniwal in Parliament. According to the data, shared by the education ministry, a total 169 school with zero enrolment have been merged in 2023-24 and 2024-25 sessions, of which a maximum of 18 was in Jaipur followed by 17 in Jodhpur, 11 in Didwana-Kuchaman, and 10 in Karauli. The data added that there are another 21 schools in the state that have been merged as they did not have a separate building. Of these 21 schools, the maximum of four schools have been found in Bhilwara followed by three in Ajmer, and two each in Chittorgarh, Jaipur, and Jodhpur. Last year, only 46 new schools were opened in Rajasthan as opposed to 91 schools that were opened in 2023-24 session. No school was also upgraded to higher secondary level in the last two years, the ministry stated. Meanwhile, the school upgradation rate has also declined by 33% in the period between 2022 and 2025, said the data. While a total of 186 primary schools were upgraded to the upper primary level in the 2022-23 session, it declined to 78 in 2023-24, and only 63 in 2024-25 session. Of these, the maximum of 38 schools were upgraded in Barmer in 2022, followed by 36 in Jodhpur, and 26 in Jaisalmer. In 2023, the maximum of 12 schools were upgraded in Barmer, only followed by 11 in Banswara, and 10 in Bharatpur. The corresponding figure was seven in Sikar in 2024 followed by three in Alwar, Baran, Churu, Dausa, Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, Karauli, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur. However, no school was also upgraded to higher secondary level in the last two years. In 2022, a batch of at least 262 schools were upgraded to higher secondary level for the last time, showed data. According to the ministry, the state is currently running 28,607 primary schools, 16,542 upper primary schools, and 19,918 higher secondary schools. The maximum of 1,676 primary schools are located in Barmer while the maximum of 794 secondary schools and 1,066 higher secondary schools are in Jaipur....