Few pupils, Himachal Pradesh to shut 21 colleges, 100 schools

The Department of Education in Himachal Pradesh has decided to close down 21 colleges and 100 senior secondary schools owing to low enrolment in these institutions.

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The department has already merged or shut down 1,094 schools with zero or low enrolment up to high school. “We have now identified 21 colleges and 100 senior secondary schools which have low enrolment. We will take the proposal to close or merge these institutions to the Cabinet,” said Education Minister Rohit Thakur.

The minister said the colleges having less than 100 students would be closed. “Around 700 students will be affected with the closure of these colleges,” said Thakur. In the case of the senior secondary schools, the minimum limit has been fixed at 25 students. “The senior secondary schools having less than 25 students in seven classes — from Class VI to Class XII — will be closed. Besides, the strength in Class XI and Class XII must be in double digits, or else the schools will be shut,” the minister said, adding that some relaxation would be given to the schools located in tribal areas.

“If we have to provide quality education to students, we have to go for consolidation of our resources. A good performance by our students in the recently released ASER reports vindicates our decisions,” said Thakur.

Apart from closing down schools with low enrolment, the other big decision taken by the government is banning teachers’ transfer in the middle of the academic session. “We will open a transfer window just for 15 days from April 1 to 15. Even during this period, only need-based transfers will be done,” said Thakur.