The Punjab government will shut down 800 primary schools with less than 20 students, and merge them with schools nearby, The Tribune reported.
The state government issued a notification on October 18, asking district education officers to merge such schools, the Hindustan Times reported. The government said the move will not harm children’s right to education, and that students will not travel more than 1 km from their homes to reach school.
“There is no violation of the RTE Act,” Punjab education secretary Krishan Kumar told the newspaper. “No child will be forced to travel more than 1 km. Where the distance is more than 1 km, the school will continue as before.”
In many cases, the schools being merged were next to each other, some even sharing a wall, The Tribune quoted an education department spokesperson as saying. The spokesperson said 15 such schools had just three students. Most of the schools that will be merged are in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur. Muktsar, Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala and Faridkot will be least affected.
Move to save resources
Merging schools will help the education department save resources and also fill vacancies of teachers in other schools. Currently, 57 schools with less than five students used the services of more than 75 teachers, the Hindustan Times report said.
The Opposition, however, criticised the move. Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira from the Aam Aadmi Party called it “an extreme retrograde step and blatant violation of the Right to Free Education Act”, The Indian Express reported. Khaira said the Punjab government should instead provide quality education and increase the number of schools.
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