Jaipur: The state education department has sought details of primary schools with less than 15 students and upper primary schools with less than 25 students from all district education officers by May 23. Director of secondary education Sita Ram Jat issued an order regarding this on March 17.
Senior officials from the dept are likely to hold a key meeting in Jaipur to discuss the merging or demerging of schools based on local requirements.
Along with individual school data, district education officers also have also been asked to identify the nearest school with similar enrolment numbers. However, senior secondary schools with enrolment between zero and 39 students will not be considered for this purpose.
Over the past two years, 450 schools with zero or low student enrolment have been merged across the state.
Govt school teachers said that after merging schools, the lack of a designated timeframe and calendar for the process of transfer of teachers often leads to situations where teachers are left without students to teach or students are left without teachers.
Mahendra Pandey, state chief general secretary of the Rajasthan Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Association, said, “Merging schools with zero or low enrolment into nearby institutions, transferring the students to the new school and reassigning the staff to schools where they are needed has become a standard procedure.”
Vipin Prakash Sharma, state president of the association, said that a permanent decision should be put in place for identifying schools with zero or low enrolment, naming the nearest schools for merger, and adjusting surplus staff. “The whole process should ideally be completed within one month immediately after school mergers are announced. The new academic session is scheduled to start on April 1 with the specific objective of boosting student enrolment in schools, and such a meeting before the session raises doubts,” said Sharma.
