NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes has said he is "no expert in matters of education" in his first school visit as the minister in charge of the state's sprawling network.

Speaking in the seat of the man he replaced as education minister, Adrian Piccoli, Mr Stokes revealed he would call on the Catholic and Independent sectors to help build 12 schools a year in NSW over the next two decades.

But hitting that target would require a significant statistical reversal: 29 schools have closed across the Independent, Catholic and government sectors since 2010, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Public schools have made up the largest share of closures with more than 20 shutting their gates since 2010, according to the ABS data, as the state's school aged population gets set to surge.