THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Government and aided schools in Kerala should have a minimum strength of 15 students, the government has decided. The Directorate of Public Instruction has issued a circular fixing the minimum strength of students in a class at lower primary, upper primary and high school level at government and aided schools as 15. The decision was taken on account of changing the tag of 'Uneconomic' schools where there are shortfalls of the minimum criteria of students in a class.
According to DPI's order if a school has a minimum strength of 15 students in each class, it will be deemed as a school with sufficient number of students. The managers of the schools which follow the minimum criteria can conduct appointments as per guidelines in Kerala Education Rules (KER). The DPI also ordered school authorities not to term schools without minimum student strength as 'uneconomic' schools. The term should be removed from official records. Instead such schools should be called as 'schools without sufficient student strength'.
In such schools, Headmasters can be appointed through promotional postings. Fresh appointments to these schools should be on daily-wages basis. Transfer of teachers to schools with insufficient students would not be permitted. However such transfers are allowed for schools under the same management. The order would come into effect from the current academic year, the DPI has made clear.