Odisha to shut over 8,000 primary schools with less than 20 students

admin October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 0 Comments primary schools, schools, students

As per the state government notification, every student from the schools that are facing closure will be provided a one-time facilitation allowance of Rs 3,000 on their admission to the Lead School.

The Odisha government has decided to shut 8,000-odd primary and upper primary state schools from the current academic year on the ground that their minimal student strength is not viable to let them run.

A notification by the state school and mass education department said the shutting down of the schools with student strength less than 20 would lead to improvement in the learning environment, better infrastructure facilities, better academic environment and co-curricular facilities for the students.

The move termed “Consolidation and rationalisation” under Niti Aayog’s Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) project is already under implementation with around 8000-odd schools in Odisha with student strength less than 20 being closed and merged with nearest schools called Lead Schools over last few months.

For a Primary school, a nearby Primary (I-V)/Upper Primary (I-VIII/VI-VIII)/ Secondary (I-X), will be identified for consolidation. Similarly for an Upper Primary (I-VIII/VI-VIII), a nearby Upper Primary (I-VIII/VI-VIII) or high school (I-X/VI-X) would be identified for the merger process. As per 2016 statistics of the school and mass education department, Odisha has around 58,000 primary and upper primary government schools.

Joint director in Odisha School Education Programme Authority, Surekha Tarei said so far 6,000-odd schools have been identified in 27 districts for merger while another 2,000 schools are being identified in rest 3 districts for implementing the consolidation move. “The students who would have to travel to a distant school due to the consolidation process would be paid Rs 20 as daily allowance. The process would lead to fully functional schools with an increase in the number of teachers per class and concentrated investment of resources,” she said.

As per the state government notification, every student from the schools that are facing closure will be provided a one-time facilitation allowance of Rs 3,000 on their admission to the Lead School. All teachers/headmaster/staff (including mid-day meal cook etc.) of the schools that are facing closure will also move to the Lead School without any change in their service conditions. If the Lead school distance is beyond 1 km, transport allowance as per RTE norms would be provided to the students.

Trilochan Nayak, president of All Utkal primary Teachers Federation, decried the consolidation move saying it would bring the education system in Odisha to ruins. “The same government which allowed the schools to open in villages is now shutting down the schools. As on date, Odisha has around 4,400-odd vacant positions at the elementary level which should have been filled up by the government. But instead of improving the infrastructure, the government is just hell-bent on closing the schools. No one consulted stakeholders like teachers and the students while deciding on consolidation. The school and mass education minister also did not resist the move. Even if the government gives transport allowance, how many students in rural areas would be inclined to travel to a distant school for study. This would lead to more dropout in primary level,” said Nayak.

Noted educationist Prithwish Acharya also said the consolidation of schools was not a smart move considering that the government is aiming at 100 per cent literacy. “When we talk of universalisation of education, schools with less than 20 students also play a role. The government schools in rural areas help poorer students enrol and complete their education. Besides, it is not the fault of the students that the school has less than 20 students as it’s the duty of the government to provide the necessary infrastructure for education. Many of these schools in rural areas don’t even have mandatory desks and benches for the students forcing them to study under humiliating conditions,” said Acharya.

Acharya argued that the government should not think of saving money when it comes to education. “Education in any way is going to cost money. So why not stop funding schools altogether,” he asked.

Akshay Hota, a school teacher in Bhadrak, where many primary and upper primary schools would be shut down, said the consolidation move would force many parents to enrol their children in private schools that are relatively expensive. “The poor parents would not probably like to send their children to a far-off school and may enrol them at a private school near home. How many parents can afford that,” he asked.