The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led Government will particularly focus on the requirements of tribal children living in the far-flung villages of the State while reopening the schools that were shut down by a former NDA-led Government here, School Education and Literacy Minister Jagarnath Mahto said on Saturday.
The step, he said, will be taken in a bid to ensure free quality education to the children living in the mountains, forest areas and hamlets situated in the interiors of Jharkhand. “Even if there are 10 children in an area, they should have a school at a comfortable distance from their home. These children living in the interiors will be our focus while reopening the schools that were closed by the former Government,” Mahto told this newspaper on Saturday.
Under the leadership of former Chief Minister Raghubar Das, the School Education and Literacy Department decided to merge around 4600 primary schools with bigger schools. Later, the Government also resorted to shutting down around 6000 more schools that were said to have a ‘negligible’ strength of students. The decision – despite being criticized by many Right to Education activists and the opposition parties – was projected by the Government as a move to provide better infrastructure and facilities to the children studying in smaller schools.
According to reports, Jharkhand was one of the three States picked for a 30-month programme of the Centre under which the NITI Aayog entrusted Boston Consulting Group to implement reforms in the primary education system. The Jharkhand government then merged schools in two phases.
In the first phase, schools with fewer than 10 students and in the second phase, schools with fewer than 30 students were merged with primary or upper-primary schools nearby.
The third round of mergers was stalled when BJP MPs from the State objected and said that the closure of schools was affecting thousands of lives in the hinterland.
Since taking charge as the Chief Minister, Hemant Soren has been vocal about his plan of reopening the schools that were closed. However, the new Government is also likely to make changes in the curriculum and the syllabi in order to ‘localize’ the primary school lessons and also make it holistic. “We are yet to take any official decision regarding the change of syllabi.
However, necessary changes will be made at the right time,” Mahto said.
Sources from the School Education and Literacy Department said that the Government was also planning to include fresh lessons on the local heroes of the State and the tribal personalities.
The lessons, they said, will be aimed at making students aware of the glorious history of Jharkhand.