Srinagar, Feb. 4 -- Over the years, the decline has been steady, with 23,834 schools recorded in 2015-16, followed by 23,855 schools in 2016-17. The number continued to decrease to 23,904 in 2017-18 and 24,080 in 2018-19, before dropping to 23,165 in 2019-20. By 2020-21, the number of schools remained stable at 23,167, but the trend took a sharp downturn in 2022-23, with the number falling to 18,785. This reduction continued into 2023-24, with no further decrease after 2022-23. This is more than 27 per cent fall in the number of schools operating across Jammu and Kashmir.

The government attributed the closure and merger of schools to a combination of factors, including efforts to rationalise the school network. These measures were seen a...