The education department is gearing itself up for setting up of residential schools in different parts of the state and shut down the schools with less student enrollment. In his first meeting with the officials of education department after assuming charge, the education minister Arvind Pandey had asked the department to earmark the schools with less than 10 enrollments and open residential schools in the areas where students of these schools can be admitted. It is learnt that the department is working on the possibility of opening residential schools in such areas especially in mountainous areas of the state where the student enrollment is low. The Primary education director Seema Jaunsari told The Pioneer that the department has initiated the process to find out the schools with low enrollment. She said that in a recent meeting the idea of opening the residential schools was discussed. Jaunsari informed that all district level officers are told to submit a report on student enrollment and suggested schools which can be developed as residential ones. The education minister had recently claimed that residential schools would be developed on the lines of model schools would be given best infrastructural facilities. These schools would also be provided with sufficient number of teachers. This decision is expected to be implemented from next academic session.
A departmental data reveals that there about 1910 schools in the state where less than ten students are enrolled.
These schools pose a big financial burden on the education department. Experts believe that by closing these schools the department could operate residential schools in selected areas. The data further reveals that there are 1969 schools where number of students is more than 10 but less 20 similarly the number of schools with more than 20 but less than 30 students is 1480.