28 senior secondary, high schools downgraded due to poor enrolment

After closing around 1,350 primary and middle schools due to low enrolment, the state government has turned its attention to high and senior secondary schools having inadequate enrolment. As per the latest orders, 28 senior secondary and high schools having enrolment less than or equal to five have been downgraded.

Sometime ago, 14 senior secondary schools and high schools with zero enrolment were denotified. “These schools had become unsustainable due to low or zero enrolment. So, we had no choice but to denotify or downgrade these schools,” said Education Minister Rohit Thakur.

While 12 senior secondary schools have been downgraded to high schools, 16 high schools have been downgraded to middle schools. There were just five or less students in Class XI and XII in these senior secondary schools. The Class IX and X of the downgraded high schools also had just five or less students. Most of these downgraded schools are in Shimla district. Of the 12 senior secondary schools, which have been downgraded, nine are located in Shimla district. And of 16 high schools downgraded to middle schools, 13 are located in Shimla.

The minister said that there were just 104 students in these 42 schools. “And to teach these 104 students, 134 teachers were posted in these schools. We did not have even 1:1 teacher-student ratio in these schools. We had no option but to downgrade or denotify these schools,” he added.

The minister said that schools in tribal areas were not touched regardless of the number of students there. As per a government notification, students affected by the downgrading exercise would be shifted to nearby schools of their choice. The decision is part of the larger process of consolidation and rationalisation of resources to offer quality education to students. So far, around 830 schools have been closed owing to zero enrolment and around 520 schools having low enrolment have been merged.tri