The State Government on Sunday said there is no “illegality” in merger of schools having less pupils even as Opposition BJP and Congress alleged that children are being denied their right to education due to closure of thousands of schools across the State.
The Government’s stand on the school closure issue came to the fore again in the State Assembly during a daylong discussion on a motion moved by Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallik.
Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro had on Saturday directed to hold a discussion through a motion after the Opposition created pandemonium leading to multiple adjournments of the House over the issue.Replying to the discussion, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said the Government has no such intention to trouble students by closing schools, rather working towards imparting quality education.
He, however, said the Government has now changed its norms for merger of schools. When a school in a scheduled area having less than 15 students would be merged with another nearby school, it would be less than 20 students strength in non-scheduled areas.
He said there are less than 40 students in 14,382 schools. However, the process of merger of 7,772 schools is being carried out. Among them, 1,724 schools have less than 25 students and 6,048 have less than 20 students.While rejecting the Opposition’s allegations that over 14,000 schools would be closed in the process of merger, the Minister said the figure is 7,772. “In the process of merger, some schools will be closed. The Government is taking steps to mitigate the problems of students,” he said.
After merger of their schools, each affected student would be provided one-time financial assistance of Rs 3,000 and another Rs 600 per month towards escort allowance according to provision of the Rights to Education Act, the Minister said, adding that merger of small-size schools would help the Government create better infrastructure which would ensure quality education.
“The exact number of schools to be closed due to merger may further come down because of the change in the norms in both the scheduled and non-scheduled areas,” he said.The Minister also said the Government would consider the geographical conditions and other natural situations of schools while taking decisions to close the schools. He said this referring to some members’ arguments that students have to cross rivers, nullhas and forests to attend schools in nearby areas after merger of schools.Earlier, Government Chief Whip Mallick had said there are many schools that have two teachers for a mere eight students. Such schools will continue to run if the number of students increases.
The Government’s motive is not to deprive anyone of education.Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said, “Closure of schools in the name of merger will lead to denial of right to education. There will be a breach of the fundamental right,” Mishra said that though the Government has changed its norms for closure of schools in scheduled and non-scheduled areas, it has not taken the backward KBK region into consideration. “If the Government does not change its yardstick of selecting schools for closure in the KBK region, we will further agitate,” he said.Deputy Leader of Opposition Bishnu Sethi (BJP) said the decision of the Government would have serious consequences. “We will stage a sit-in near the podium of the Speaker until a rollback of the decision,” he said.Ruling BJD member Pratap Deb, however, preferred to shift the blame on the Central Government. “The Niti Aayog has made recommendations for school merger in 2017. This apart, the National Education Policy also recommends merger of schools, Therefore, the BJP members should go through the national policy before making any allegation against the State,” Deb said.
Odisha is not the lone State undertaking the process of school merger, he said, adding that Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan have also adopted the same process to bring reforms in the education system.