Closing down low enrolment ZP schools not practical, say academics

Nagpur: The state government’s plan to close down zilla parishad schools with low enrolment (below 20 students) has not gone down well with senior academics. Many feel that closing of schools in remote areas will have an adverse impact, as some students may not shift to other schools due to them being far off, or transport or education there not being affordable.
Prof Anil Sole, former mayor and MLC, said such steps must be taken with extreme caution. “Government must try to amalgate two schools into one. That should be the only condition for closure of one of the schools. Everywhere else, we must keep schools running even though they may not have many students,” said Sole.
He added that one must also be pragmatic while handling such situations. “See, it’s a fact that these schools will one day close naturally, because some time or the other enrolment will drop to zero. So merging two schools, that share the same geographical area, is the best option,” he added.
Vinit Padmawar, who heads a ZP school in a remote village of Gadchiroli, said decisions like this must actually be taken looking at the topography. “We are situated in a place where proper transportation in not available. If students are forced to attend a new school then crossing nullahs and hills during monsoon will be impossible, and chances are that they will drop out of school,” said Padmawar.
Another ZP school teacher in Nagpur district said, “Our ZP schools are basically -revenue generating department, due to which the government wants these closures. Even if there is one student in a classroom, does he not have the right to learn?”
Closure of low enrolment schools or those which have only one teacher, is not a new proposal. Such things have been pushed by the state earlier too, but have not met with much success. In 2019, when such talk had surfaced, Sole had put up a question in the legislative council on whether schools with low enrolment will be closed. At that time, the state government under CM Devendra Fadnavis had denied there were any such moves.
A ZP official said, “Covid-19 has changed many things. The government has to go into cost-cutting mode as well and frankly many ZP schools have less than 20 kids. Teachers get very high salaries and that wage bill is weighing on the government treasury.”