In a bid to address issue of shortage of school teachers, the Rajasthan Government has started a rationalisation programme to merge schools with less enrolment in the state, a move that was vehemently opposed by the Congress.
Under the programme, government schools with no or less enrolment of students will be merged to create one big institution of higher secondary level.
While the education department termed it a process of merging the schools, the opposition Congress said that in the name of merging, the government was closing down the elementary and secondary level schools opened by the previous Congress government.
“We have started the process of unification of schools in Rajasthan. Instead of running several schools with no resources and enrolment of students, it’s better to have one big school at every gram panchayat level where students get all facilities under one roof,” said Education Minister Kali Charan Saraf. Saraf said a recent survey revealed that there were 142 schools with zero enrolment and that 251 teachers had no work.
Around 8,164 schools have enrolment between 1-15 students and 14,655 teachers are employed. Similarly, there are 28,013 schools in the state having enrolment between 16-30 students and 57,056 teachers are deputed in these schools.
“On one side, we have over 70,000 teachers who have almost no work and on the other hand we have areas facing severe shortage of teachers.
“The unification programme aims to merge several schools having low or no enrolment. It will bring uniformity in system and crises of teacher shortage will be addressed to some extent,” the education minister said.
