<p>As many as 13,800 government schools in the state are on the verge of closure as they have less than 25 students.</p>.<p>All these schools are in rural areas and of these, around 1,800 have less than 10 students. </p>.<p>While the department of school education and literacy says there is no question of closure, the plan to upgrade one school in every hobli as a ‘model school’ has raised questions. </p>.<p>According to experts, the department will divert students from low admission schools to model schools in the name of merger.</p>.<p>“Merger is just a word. Technically, the schools will be closed and students will be shifted to nearby schools,” one academic said.</p>.<p>However, School Education and Literacy Minister B C Nagesh said the government would not close down any schools. “There is no proposal to close any school. Instead, we are running the schools which have less than 10 students,” he said during an interaction here. </p>.<p>“There are schools with single students and we have not closed them. The number of admissions in rural areas is decreasing. Not just schools, even anganwadis are witnessing the same trend,” he added.</p>.<p>However, the minister accepted the fact that the admissions in rural government schools are going down because of quality issues.</p>.<p>“The expectations among parents have gone up regarding the quality of education. Admissions are going down because of quality issues,” the minister said.</p>.<p>Nagesh said there are schools which have no teachers. “There are schools with single students and there are even schools without teachers. There are about 16 such schools in Chamarajanagar and 30 in Raichur where there are no teachers at all,” he said. </p>
<p>As many as 13,800 government schools in the state are on the verge of closure as they have less than 25 students.</p>.<p>All these schools are in rural areas and of these, around 1,800 have less than 10 students. </p>.<p>While the department of school education and literacy says there is no question of closure, the plan to upgrade one school in every hobli as a ‘model school’ has raised questions. </p>.<p>According to experts, the department will divert students from low admission schools to model schools in the name of merger.</p>.<p>“Merger is just a word. Technically, the schools will be closed and students will be shifted to nearby schools,” one academic said.</p>.<p>However, School Education and Literacy Minister B C Nagesh said the government would not close down any schools. “There is no proposal to close any school. Instead, we are running the schools which have less than 10 students,” he said during an interaction here. </p>.<p>“There are schools with single students and we have not closed them. The number of admissions in rural areas is decreasing. Not just schools, even anganwadis are witnessing the same trend,” he added.</p>.<p>However, the minister accepted the fact that the admissions in rural government schools are going down because of quality issues.</p>.<p>“The expectations among parents have gone up regarding the quality of education. Admissions are going down because of quality issues,” the minister said.</p>.<p>Nagesh said there are schools which have no teachers. “There are schools with single students and there are even schools without teachers. There are about 16 such schools in Chamarajanagar and 30 in Raichur where there are no teachers at all,” he said. </p>
