It has been over a month since Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced in the budget that 28,847 government and aided schools with low admission rates would be merged with 8,530 government schools situated nearby. But the Department of Primary and Secondary Education appears to have no clarity on how this exercise will be carried out.
Recently, the department collated data that indicated there were 14,712 government primary schools that had less than 30 students. These schools are reportedly located within 1-km radius of other government schools. These schools have 25,550 teachers.
According to statistics provided by the department, there are 261 schools with zero admissions, 3,374 schools that have student enrolment between 1 and 10, and 11,077 schools that have between 11 and 30 students.
Although Primary and Secondary Education Minister N. Mahesh, after opposition from different stakeholders, had said that only around 8,000 schools would be merged with 8,530 government schools, statistics show that there are 14,712 government schools with low student enrolment.
“This list does not have aided schools as mentioned in the budget. There is no Government Order issued in this regard and we are waiting for the government to clear the confusion,” a source said.