Himachal shuts 99 govt schools with no students

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 17

The Himachal Pradesh Government today denotified 99 government primary and middle schools with zero enrolment. It also ordered merger of 419 schools, including 361 of the primary wing, with five or less students with the nearest schools.

Among the 99 schools shut today, 89 are primary schools. A related notification was issued by Joint Secretary (Education) Sunil Verma. The Directorate of Elementary Education has accordingly ordered its Deputy Directors to complete the formalities as the denotification order comes into immediate effect.

The teachers from the schools being closed or merged will be posted in the ones having vacancies. It is after a series of meetings and deliberations that the Education Department finally decided to take action. The decline in enrolment in government schools remains a major cause for concern for the government. Several initiatives have been taken to check the migration of students to private institutes.

The total enrolment in government schools from Class I to Class XII, which was 10.50 lakh 20 years ago, has now dipped to 7.50 lakh. Similarly, the number of students in Class I, which was 1.32 lakh, now stands at a mere 49,000. Of the 10,500 primary schools, 322 are without any teacher and 3,400 are being run by a single teacher.

In its meeting on July 25, the Cabinet had approved the merger of government primary schools within a two-km radius and of middle schools within a three-km radius, if these have five or less students. Education Minister Rohit Thakur had himself admitted that Himachal, which once ranked among the top three states in the education sector, had slipped to the 18th position.

Of the 89 primary schools that have been shut, the highest number — 30 — falls in Shimla district, followed by 18 in Kangra and 15 in Mandi. Of the 10 middle schools whose closure was ordered, five are in Mandi district, two in Kullu and one each in Chamba, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti. Of the total 361 primary schools being merged, 70 are in Kangra, 63 in Mandi, 60 in Shimla, 27 in Chamba and 23 in Hamirpur district. Besides, 58 middle schools have been merged with nearby schools.