Primary schools with few students to be merged

Amaninder Pal

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 28

Over 1,400 primary schools having less than 20 students on its rolls, including 375 with less than 10, will be merged with nearby schools.

The Education Department would soon recommend this in light of the findings of the recently conducted students’ strength analyses in over 12,500 government primary schools across the state.

“The department is committed to appoint the recommended strength of teachers in each school. But we also want optimum utilisation of our staff. Hence, the merger and teachers now teaching 10-20 students will be able to cater to a larger number of students.The government will take a final call on the issue”, said Inderjit Singh, DPI (Primary). The Right to Education Act, 2009 has fixed 1:30 as teacher to pupil ratio for primary schools.

“This means under-utilisation of a teacher’s skill if he/she is working in a school having student strength less than 30,” an official added.

The Act also states that a primary school should be available for a student within 1 km of walking distance from his/her residence. This clause has led to opening of a large number of primary schools, which have a very low enrolment rate, he added.

In another move, the department has issued orders to all district education officials to identify premises housing primary and higher secondary schools.

“Currently, separate head teachers/principals are managing such schools which are otherwise running in the same premises. We also want merger of such schools for better administration,” added an official.