20% govt primary schools have 10 or less students

Padmavati Prabhu

Panaji: Nearly 20 per cent government primary schools in the state have enrolments of ten or less students, the data obtained from the directorate of education (DoE) has revealed.

Of the 696 government primary schools in the state, 129 have enrolment of ten or less students and in some cases it is as low as one student.

The talukas of Sattari and Ponda have the highest number of government primary schools which have low enrolment with 23 and 19, respectively.

Due to low enrolment, nearly a hundred government primary schools have been closed in the state in the last decade.

Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’, a senior teacher from a government primary school said that parents prefer enrolling their children in either government-aided or unaided schools which has severely affected the enrolment in government primary schools.

“For several years in the past, government primary schools were in a totally neglected state. In the last few years, the government has started creating new infrastructure and refurbishing of the existing government primary schools that are in dilapidated condition. But it is yet to bear any fruits in most cases,” said the teacher.

A senior government official said that providing Bal Rath buses to aided schools has also been a factor for the declining enrolment.

“Bal Rath buses are not meant for primary schools. But in many cases where high schools have primary section, the students who have siblings in the same school tend to travel by the same Bal Rath buses,” said the official.

“Earlier we saw a trend where government primary schools in city areas were seeing a declining trend. But now we witness the same in villages areas too due to Bal Rath buses,” said the official.

Another teacher said that the government in the past has granted permissions to aided schools despite objections from the neighbouring schools.

“When any aided school is opened near any government school, people tend to give preference to the aided school resulting in a decline in the enrolment in the government school,” said the teacher.