diff --git a/backend/app/Controllers/TeacherController.php b/backend/app/Controllers/TeacherController.php
index 0f55b7d..9923b4d 100644
--- a/backend/app/Controllers/TeacherController.php
+++ b/backend/app/Controllers/TeacherController.php
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class TeacherController
 
         // Total Unique Active Students
         $studentsCount = (int)Database::selectOne(
-            "SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT lp.user_id) as total FROM lesson_progress lp 
+            "SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT lp.student_id) as total FROM lesson_progress lp
              JOIN lessons l ON lp.lesson_id = l.id 
              JOIN courses c ON l.course_id = c.id 
              WHERE c.teacher_id = ?",
diff --git a/backend/app/Services/VideoService.php b/backend/app/Services/VideoService.php
index 9f695b7..24a969c 100644
--- a/backend/app/Services/VideoService.php
+++ b/backend/app/Services/VideoService.php
@@ -63,6 +63,25 @@ class VideoService
                 Database::query("ALTER TABLE lessons ADD COLUMN encoding_status ENUM('pending', 'processing', 'ready', 'failed') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'ready' AFTER is_free_preview");
             }
 
+            // Progress is used by the student player. Create only this additive
+            // table at runtime so production does not need the destructive full schema.
+            Database::query("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS lesson_progress (
+                id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+                student_id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
+                lesson_id BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
+                position_seconds INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+                watched_seconds INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+                completion_percentage DECIMAL(5,2) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0.00,
+                is_completed TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+                last_seen_at TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+                completed_at TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT NULL,
+                PRIMARY KEY (id),
+                UNIQUE KEY idx_progress_student_lesson (student_id, lesson_id),
+                KEY idx_progress_lesson (lesson_id),
+                CONSTRAINT fk_progress_student FOREIGN KEY (student_id) REFERENCES students (id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+                CONSTRAINT fk_progress_lesson FOREIGN KEY (lesson_id) REFERENCES lessons (id) ON DELETE CASCADE
+            ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci");
+
             self::$schemaChecked = true;
         } catch (\Throwable $e) {
             error_log("VideoService schema ensure note: " . $e->getMessage());