Vacant buildings of merged schools shouldn’t be left idle, says Education Minister
Says these school buildings should be repurposed as digital learning centres, pre-primary sections, Mahila Mandals, skill development labs, sports facilities or community resource centres
Education Minister Rohit Thakur today said that the school buildings vacated after the merger of educational institutions must not remain idle and should be repurposed as digital learning centres, pre-primary sections, Mahila Mandals, skill development labs, sports facilities or community resource centres, as per the need.
The minister chaired a meeting with the Deputy Directors of School Education (Secondary, Elementary and Quality Wing) to assess academic standards, administrative efficiency and the overall performance of schools in the state.
Rohit took a detailed review of school rationalisation, particularly of merged institutions. He said that administrative barriers between primary and secondary schools should be removed so that laboratories, libraries, playgrounds and the teaching staff could be shared efficiently.
He said that CCTV cameras with live monitoring had been made mandatory in all examination halls. He directed the officials to place previously identified vulnerable centres under special surveillance. He directed them to develop a robust digital mechanism, enabling one-click access to departmental data for real-time monitoring.
He took serious note of delay by certain private schools in issuing school leaving certificates to students for seeking admission to institutions affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education. He said that such cases must be resolved within a fixed time so that no student’s academic future suffers.
The minister also examined the rationalisation of the science and commerce streams in Government Senior Secondary Schools. Science was functional in 818 of 1,970 schools and commerce in 799 schools. He directed the Deputy Directors to ensure an optimal deployment of faculty and infrastructure while safeguarding student’s access to quality education in all regions.
The minister emphasised on holistic development and said that sports and co-curricular activities remained a priority. He added that the state secured a historic 48 national medals in 2025-26 with 121 medal winners, including 14 medals in the Under-14 category. “A sum of over Rs 1.22 crore has been sanctioned as diet money for sportspersons and phased expansion and operationalisation of sports hostels with structured monitoring should be ensured,” he added.
Secretary (Education) Rakesh Kanwar also gave suggestions. Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Rajesh Sharma; Director School Education Ashish Kohli and Deputy Directors from all districts and other senior officers attended the meeting.
