Centre moots consolidation of more schools in Assam

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Even after the process of consolidation and merger of a large number of schools in the state, it has now emerged that many schools have zero enrollment, many have enrollments of less than 50, and a number of schools are operating without sufficient teachers. This begs the question of whether more schools are likely to be closed down in the name of merger and amalgamation or if the government will appoint enough teachers for the schools to survive.

It was revealed during the recent Project Approval Board (PAB) meetings that, out of the total 45490 schools in the state, 14O schools have zero enrollment, 35511 schools have less than 50 enrollment, and 3074 schools are single-teacher schools. In addition, the number of schools with an adverse Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) at the elementary level is 27.43% of the total.

Following the revelations, the Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) under the Union Education Ministry suggested that the state government needs to ensure the consolidation of schools and ensure a sufficient number of teachers in all schools, especially at the elementary level.

It was also stated that, out of the 81 approved Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) in the state, 64 are functional and 17 (21%) are yet to be made functional. The state also needs to design measures to fill the vacancies given that, of the total capacity of 19550 seats, 13730 seats are filled and 5820 (30 %) seats are still vacant, the DoSEL secretary said.

The KGBV Scheme was launched by the Government of India to make the education system more responsive to the needs of marginalised girls and to enhance their access and retention. Under the scheme, residential schools for girls at upper primary to senior secondary levels were set up in the Educationally Backward Block (EBB) town areas all over the country.

The scheme provides education for girls in the age group of 10–18 years belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Minority Communities, and children of families below the poverty line (BPL). In Assam, the KGBV scheme was introduced in the year 2007–2008, but it has yet to be fully functional in terms of the number of functional KGBVs.

Also read: Assam: School timings changed following heatwave in Cachar district (sentinelassam.com)

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