Crumbling Classrooms: India's public schools have become death traps for children

India Today

6 days ago

Seven children. That's how many young lives were snuffed out when a government school roof collapsed in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district on Friday morning. But here's the thing that should shake us all: this wasn't a freak accident. It was inevitable.The morning started like any other at Piplodi Government Upper Primary School. Children gathered for morning prayers around 8:30 am. Some noticed chunks of gravel falling from the ceiling and alerted their teachers. But the teachers dismissed their concerns.advertisementAccording to a media report, one was reportedly eating poha when the roof came crashing down. Within moments, seven children aged between 6 and 15 were dead, under slabs and debris.
A surviving student gave a particularly chilling account to India Today TV: "Pebbles were falling. When the students told the teachers, they scolded them and kept having breakfast. If the children were taken out, the accident would not have happened."The teacher's apathy mirrored something much larger -- India's complete desensitisation to the possibility of school building collapses.THE NUMBERS THAT TELL A HORROR STORYThe statistics paint a grim picture of India's school infrastructure. According to the latest UDISE+ data, over 6,000 schools across India don't even have proper buildings. That's 6,000 schools where children are expected to learn without basic shelter.But the problems run much deeper.Only 57.2% of India's schools have functional computers, 53.9% have internet access, and a shocking 52.3% lack ramps with handrails for disabled students.Most telling of all: out of India's 10.17 lakh government schools, only 33.2% have disabled-friendly toilets, and of these, just 30.6% are functional.
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Here's what's truly damning: the Rajasthan school that collapsed wasn't even on the district's list of unsafe buildings, Jhalawar Collector Ajay Singh confirmed to PTI. He said the district administration had recently asked the education department to identify dilapidated buildings -- but this school didn't make the list.This raises serious questions about how these safety surveys are conducted. If a building that kills seven children wasn't flagged as dangerous, how many other ticking time bombs are we sending our children to every day?'I will get it investigated, and action will be taken against whoever is found guilty,' Singh told PTI. But that's cold comfort to the families now burying their children.THE BUDGET REALITY CHECKIndia's education budget has grown steadily over the past five years, reaching Rs 1.28 lakh crore in 2025-26. The Department of School Education alone received Rs 78,572 crore this year -- its highest-ever allocation. Sounds impressive, right?advertisementBut here's the catch: most of this money never reaches actual infrastructure improvements where it matters most.The Samagra Shiksha scheme, which includes infrastructure funding, gets about 52.5% of the school education budget. Yet despite these allocations, children are still studying in buildings that are literally falling apart.The government loves to boast about progress. Per-child expenditure (public expenditure, not direct cash benefit) has grown from Rs 10,780 in 2013-14 to Rs 25,043 in 2021-22. Electricity coverage in schools jumped from 53% to 91.8%.But when you dig deeper, the picture gets murky. What's the point of having electricity if the roof might cave in during morning prayers?
A PATTERN OF PREVENTABLE DEATHSThe Rajasthan incident isn't isolated. In fact, just a day later, in Uttar Pradesh, four children were injured when a school ceiling's plaster collapsed during class.advertisementThese are part of a horrifying pattern that's been building for years:2024: Two workers died in Karnataka when an under-construction school building collapsed during inspection.2023: A Class 6 student in Karnataka's Ramanagara district died when a government school wall collapsed, causing fatal head injuries.2015: Nearly two dozen students were injured in Bihar when panic ensued after a classroom roof portion fell, triggering a stampede.Each incident follows a familiar script: structural warnings ignored, complaints dismissed, and children paying the ultimate price for administrative negligence.THE CASTE AND CLASS DIVIDEThere's another uncomfortable truth about the Rajasthan tragedy. According to UDISE+ 2023-24 data, out of 94 students in the Piplodi school, 78 were from Scheduled Tribes, 5 from Scheduled Castes, and 11 from Other Backward Classes. Not a single child from the general category was studying there.In other words, the school catered almost entirely to marginalised children -- exactly the kind of students the system routinely fails.
(Photo: kys.udiseplus.gov.in)
As one parent pointed out while speaking to media, most of the students in the school belonged to the Bhil community and came from families that couldn't afford private education. Children from more privileged caste groups, were enrolled in a nearby private school.advertisementThe message is clear: crumbling government schools are good enough for India's poorest children, while those who can afford it flee to private institutions.THE REAL INFRASTRUCTURE CRISISDespite the government's claims of progress, the ground reality is stark. A 2019 study by NIMHANS and Underwriters Laboratories found that most schools fared poorly on physical safety infrastructure.The study revealed that only 54.2% of schools had anti-skid flooring, and fire safety was compromised in most institutions.The situation has barely improved. Today, over 2.4 lakh schools don't have library facilities, and 9.47 lakh schools lack functional computer facilities.In an era where digital literacy is crucial, 87.72% of schools (both government and private) -- that's 11.71 lakh schools -- don't have internet facilities.SPENDING WITHOUT IMPACTAnd what about funding? In FY 2024-25, the education sector was allocated just 0.38% (state budgets, which fund the majority of schools, are not included in this ratio) of India's GDP. For FY 2025-26, that figure dropped slightly to 0.36%.advertisementThe Economic Survey 2023-24 shows that total public expenditure on education, including state and central spending, has hovered between 2.7% and 2.9% of GDP for nearly a decade -- well below the 6% target set by the NEP 2020.And these expenditure figures aren't for school education alone. They include allocations for sports, arts, and culture lumped under the broader 'education' umbrella. Even then, there's a massive gap between fund allocation and effective utilisation in the education sector.
From Economic Survey 2023-24
In Karnataka alone, Rs 4,658.25 lakh was allocated for infrastructure facilities under Samagra Shiksha in 2022-23, with an additional special allocation of Rs 14,342.40 lakh for rejuvenating basic infrastructure in government schools. Yet, children continued to study in unsafe buildings.The problem isn't just money -- it's accountability. Between 2018-19 and 2023-24, 11,012 major repair works were sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha, but only 8,348 were completed.What happened to the remaining 2,664 repair works? How many children are studying in schools that were supposed to be fixed but weren't?THE APATHY EPIDEMICPerhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Rajasthan tragedy is the institutional apathy it revealed. Students saw danger signs and reported them. Teachers ignored the warnings. District administrators never flagged the building as unsafe despite conducting surveys.This isn't just negligence -- it's a systemic failure that treats the lives of poor children as expendable.The government's response follows a predictable pattern: suspend some teachers, announce compensation, promise investigations, and move on.Of the six total teachers, five teachers were suspended from the Rajasthan school. Families were promised Rs 10 lakh compensation and a government job. But what about the thousands of other unsafe schools across the country?
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Education Minister Madan Dilawar's statement to TOI was particularly telling: "We allocated funds for the maintenance of 2,000 dilapidated government schools in phases.'This admission reveals that the government knows there are at least 2,000 dangerous school buildings. How many children are sitting in classrooms right now, unaware that their school might be the next to collapse?THE BIGGER PICTUREThe Rajasthan school collapse is a symptom of a much larger disease. Despite tall claims about education being a priority, India's approach to school infrastructure remains dangerously inadequate.We're building impressive statistics -- more schools, higher budgets, better coverage -- while ignoring the basic safety of the children these institutions are meant to serve.The tragedy isn't just that seven children died. It's that their deaths were entirely preventable. It's that similar incidents will likely happen again because the underlying problems remain unaddressed. It's that we've created a two-tier education system where poor children attend schools that would be condemned in any developed country.Even in this case, one surviving student told media that they had noticed pebbles falling from the roof and alerted the teacher. But the teacher said nothing would happen.Perhaps the Indian government too has become desensitised to the possibility of government school collapses, just like this teacher didn't care. They are apathetic to the situation.Until we treat school infrastructure with the urgency it deserves -- until we stop seeing crumbling schools as acceptable for other people's children -- tragedies like Rajasthan will continue to shock us with their inevitability.The only real surprise is that they don't happen more often.- Ends