BENGALURU: The state government has ordered the closure of 2,959 government schools from this academic year. This is the highest number of schools being shut in an academic year. Most of these are Kannada medium schools with less than 10 children.
Though the Education Department claims it has picked schools with less than 10 children for a “merger” exercise, the reality is that schools are being closed down.
On May 21, the department issued its first official order announcing merger of 791 schools in seven education districts. In its June 1 order, another 2,168 across 27 districts were ordered to be “merged”. As per the circular issued by the department, the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPI) have to ‘transfer’ students from the schools identified for merger to a nearby school with more than 31 students in a 1km radius.
The students could also be admitted in other government, aided or even unaided schools under the Right To Education (RTE) quota. The department has also stated that in case the local authorities are not able to find schools in a 1km radius, the authorities must make arrangements to ferry these children to other schools.
This move has been criticised by educationists as well as by the School Development and Monitoring Committee Forum which fears a rise in dropouts. “We are protesting against this. To build pressure we request public to send emails and post cards to Chief Minister, Education Minister and principal secretary of education and fight together,” said Niranjan Aradhya, fellow, Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU. Department of Public Instruction sources admit the number this year is highest.