KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has decided to shut down 64 state-aided junior high schools (classes V-VIII) across the state, where student enrolment is down to zero. The schools were declared ‘extinct’ following a survey by the school education department.
Sources in the department said there are more schools where less than 20 per cent students attend classes. “Such schools will continue to operate until the students are accommodated in other institutions and then these schools too will be shut down,” said an official.
West Bengal has 980 junior high schools and nearly 6.5 per cent of them have been declared extinct. A total of 145 teachers have already been served transfer letters asking them to join other schools where more teachers are required. The sudden transfer orders have triggered discontent among the teachers. “There was zero enrolment in my school before the pandemic. I had no information about my transfer even a few weeks ago,” said a teacher in Howrah
After classes IX to XII were reopened on November 16, the state government had started a survey on resuming physical classes in the junior high schools and came to know about the schools with zero enrolment. “The survey showed the trend of not attending schools had begun much earlier,” said another official of the department.
“Many of these schools recorded zero enrolment even before the pandemic. Students of other schools did not attend online classes or appear in exams during the pandemic. Teachers of the concerned schools contacted the students’ families and informed us about the zero attendance situation.” Most of the shut down schools are located in urban or semi-urban pockets of the southern districts.
Edu matter
980 Total junior high schools
64 Extinct schools
145 Teachers transferred
Most affected districts: Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas, Nadia
72:1 Pupil-teacher ratio across Bengal in junior high schools