Karnataka government plans to merge schools that have single teachers

BENGALURU: The state government plans to merge the government schools in the state which have single teachers. As per the data, over 3,540 primary government schools across the state are running with single teachers and thus, the government is planning to merge them with nearby schools by shifting both the teacher and the students.

After taking charge as primary and secondary education minister, N Mahesh, who held the review meeting of the department on Monday, said, “There are several schools with single teachers and very few students. In such cases, students of all classes sit in one classroom.”“This will cost the department both academically and financially. Merging does not mean closing down. Shifting the infrastructure to another school would be a good idea,” he said.

While there are as many as 3,372 lower primary government schools that have a single teacher, as many as 78 higher primary schools fall under the same category. He said that the department would make all arrangements to make sure the children in this school would be provided transportation facilities. “Even the union government said it can provide conveyance of `700 per child for transportation and we can arrange a vehicle using this fee to pick and drop students,” he mentioned.

Out of the total 43,712 government primary schools, 7.89% of the schools are run by a single teacher in the state.However, despite the minister assuring that no schools would be closed, the academicians feel that merging means closing down. Dr VP Niranjanaradhya, fellow at the Centre for Child and Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru said, “Every child has the right to education in their neighbourhood. Merging is nothing but closure. Unless you close the school, you cannot merge it with another school,” he said.

Out of the total
43,712 govt primary schools
7.89% are run by a single teacher in the state