THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Yet another academic year has reached its end ever since the government announced its decision in 2019 to close down all unrecognised schools in the state. Had it not been for the Covid pandemic, students in over 1,500 private unrecognised schools would have to be relocated to their nearest state or aided schools. But with only four months to step into the next academic year, the government seems to be unprepared to stick to its word, putting the fate of over one lakh students in uncertainty.
At a time when physical mobility for students was limited to virtual classes in 2020-21 academic year in the wake of the pandemic, the general education department has not done anything to technically shift the students of such schools to government or aided schools. Sources reveal the department is unprepared to accommodate the students of 1,585 unrecognised schools.
According to sources, in majority of the total 4,504 government schools and 7,277 aided schools, there aren’t adequate classrooms to admit the surplus students. Shortage of teachers is also a deterrent to the plan as the increase in the number of students would disturb the teacher-student ratio of 1:27. Meanwhile, a senior education officer told TNIE that the decision on shifting the students has not been taken owing to the pandemic.
“We are still unsure about the ideal time for reopening of the schools. Hence we will decide on the matter only after the present crisis is over. Similarly, we have renovated many schools with necessary infrastructure for accommodating more students. Hopefully, we will make a decision within two or three months,” said the officer who requested anonymity.
The priority of closure of schools, including those from CBSE and ICSE streams, would comply with Right To Education (RTE) Act and Kerala Education Rules (KER) norms, and No Objection Certificate (NOC). As per the RTE rule, no elementary school can function without the state government’s recognition. When the RTE Act was came into force in 2011, a three-year time frame was given to all unaided schools to obtain an NOC from the state government subject to fulfilling its stringent conditions.