The schools and Mass Education department has decided to close 689 schools in western Odisha having less than minimum attendance. All these schools have 15 or less students in all. The students will be accommodated in the nearest schools, it has been decided.
It needs to be mentioned that some of the guardians and the elite citizens of many places also requested to close some schools and accommodate them in the nearby ones so that the service of the teachers of such schools could be utilized in better way for the benefit of the students. Even there was no dearth of such schools in Sambalpur town itself.The Government was also thinking in similar line since teachers posted in such schools were almost remaining idle. And under such principle, a few schools under Rairakhol, Jujomura and Naktideul blocks were closed last year. The closure move has invited mixed responses with a section of people appreciating and another protesting it. It is further a fact that even if some of the schools have less numbers of students, but the nearest schools to them are situated at a distance of 3/4 km which is a difficult task for the children to cover every day.