Ludhiana govt teachers push for merger of schools in close proximity

Government schools in rural areas struggle to meet enrolment targets due to proximity of multiple schools. Merger proposed for financial efficiency.

There are various government schools in close proximity in rural areas of the district. Due to this, the teaching staff of such schools are struggling to achieve the enrolment target for the new academic session.

Government Primary School Sudhar block in Ludhiana. (HT Photo)

The following schools fall under the distance of 10 km, including government senior secondary schools of Shahpur, Maksudra, Dhamot, Kaddon and two senior secondary boys and girls schools in Payal. Others included government senior secondary school and government middle school of Baddowal, government senior secondary school of Lalton Kalan and Lalton Khurd middle school. The Lalton Khurd school has only four teachers with a class strength of less than 50 students.

A government senior secondary school principal said, “There are many such schools in close vicinity within a zone which are running with a strength of less than 15, and have 4 teachers. The population in rural areas is less as compared to the urban areas, due to which it is difficult to enhance the enrolments in such schools. If they are located close to each other, then it becomes almost impossible to achieve the enrolment target.” Less than half of the rural population prefer private schools. Our teachers visit door to door to convince the parents whose children are studying in private schools, but it is not that impactful,” the principal added on condition of anonymity.

Another principal of government senior secondary school said, “Not only in rural areas, there are many such schools in urban areas as well which are within a distance of 7 to 8 km and merging them would lead to financial advantage of the government. One such school receives a grant of nearly ₹25 lakh per month, the merger would save a lot of money and the enrolment target would be easy to achieve. The issue of staff crunch would be resolved which would eventually lead to an increase in efficiency.”

District deputy education officer (secondary) Jaswinder Singh Virk said, “Be it rural or urban areas, our motive is to enrol each and every child in the school and to convince the parents who are sending their child to private schools, must opt for the government ones. The population is less in rural areas and so is the enrolment, but there is no repercussion that comes along in case of target under achieved. We conduct meetings with the school heads and try to understand the reasons and find resolution for the same.” The merger of schools is a complex decision which could only be taken up at the ministerial level, he added.