New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- Since a Niti Aayog report surfaced in June 2026, a familiar refrain has returned to public debate: nearly a lakh government schools have shut down over the past decade-proof, say critics, of the government abandoning public education and of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) working against the poor. The number is real. We have 94,000 fewer schools now than just over 1.1 million in 2014. The conclusion being drawn from it is not.

I say this having spent years observing the public education system and working with colleagues in these schools every day. The Azim Premji Foundation has close to 2,500 team members working directly with government schools across 63 districts in six states. They visit and work in nea...