Punjab to shut down 800 primary schools. RTE activists call it a violation of Constitution

The Punjab government is all set to shut down 800 primary schools in the state by 25 October. The Amarinder Singh government issued a notice to district education officers (DEOs) to merge schools with less than 20 students with others. The notification issued by Inderjeet Singh, the state education department's head for primary education, sought implementation reports by 25 October.

According to the state government, the move will benefit students across the state as it is seeking to utilise the maximum potential of teachers and infrastructure.

“Merging of these 800 schools will not only help in giving financial relief to the education department, but will fill vacancies of teachers in other schools by shifting them. As of now, these 800 schools each have strength of less than 20 students, on an average. And more than 1 teacher is posted at these facilities. In fact, there are 57 schools with less than five students, but they still used up 75 teachers. Following the merging process, the teachers and staff posted in these school will be shifted to other schools,” Punjab Education Secretary Krishan Kumar told Catch. 

“In fact, there are 57 schools with less than five students, but they still used up 75 teachers. Following the merging process, the teachers and staff posted in these school will Vidyalaya to other schools,” Kumar added.

“For example in government primary school at Ramgarh Rurki of Mohali, there is no student, but one teacher there. Similarly, in Kulgara school of Ropar, there is one student but two teachers. Likewise, there are schools with two students and three teachers, four students and two teachers, four students and one teacher and two students and one teacher. We have to sort it out and utilise the maximum potential of the teachers,” he explained.

The 800 schools being merged are spread in several districts:

– Hoshiarpur has the maximum 140.

– Gurdaspur: 133

– Ropar: 71

– Pathankot: 52,

– Patiala: 50

– Jalandhar: 54

– Ludhiana: 39

– Mohali: 30

– Nawanshahr: 34

– Ferozepur: 22

– Fatehgarh: 41

– Amritsar: 30

According to data released by the state government: 

– There are 57 schools with one to five students

– 141 schools with six to 10 children

– 362 schools with 11 to 15 children

– 240 schools with 16 to 19 children

– A total of 1,168 teachers are working in these 800 schools.

It is interesting to note that the 800 schools are shutting down in the urban and semi-urban cities in the state where students have the option of joining private schools.

RTE activists have slammed the Punjab government’s move saying that the pathetic state of affairs in government schools in the state is the major reason for lower enrollment in these primary schools.

“Are we saying that there aren’t enough children in the districts and the cities where the maximum of these primary schools are shutting down? That is not the case at all. What is happening is that parents are being forced to enroll their children in low-cost private schools. The culprit is the government who is unable to provide proper education, infrastructure, and facilities that are mandatory under the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act. This itself is a clear violation of the RTE Act,” RTE Forum National convener Ambarish Rai told Catch.

“The Punjab government, like many other states, has not invested enough to improve the primary education due to which low-cost private schools have mushroomed all over the state. It is the fundamental duty of each state to provide quality education, proper infrastructure and study material and sufficient teachers. If quality education is provided, obviously more students will enroll,” Rai added.

“It is the duty of the government to revive the quality of education in government schools. What state governments are doing is taking the easy way out. There aren’t enough students in this school so let’s close the school, that is their mentality as opposed to thinking how can we improve the quality of these schools so more students can enroll. The fact that parents now have to pay fees for primary and secondary education that the Constitution of India says is free is a gross violation of the RTE Act as well as the Constitution,” RTE Activist Annie Namla pointed out.

The ETT Teachers Union, Punjab, who convened a state-level meeting on Saturday, have also opposed the state government’s decision.

“The union is urging the state government to recall its decision and work towards strengthening the education system by recruiting more teachers and providing basic facilities to the students. Shortage of teachers in schools and non-availability of books, uniforms and other facilities are factors that have blemished the image of government schools in the state,” said state president of the union, Jagsir Singh Sahota.

Sahota further stated that the state government’s decision would cause inconvenience to the students and teachers as they would have to travel long distances now.

Even AAP MLA from Bathinda (Rural) Prof Rupinder Kaur Ruby lashed out at the state government –

“Instead of providing quality and free education and increasing the number of schools in Punjab, the government has decided to close 800 schools which is discrimination against thousands of poor children. With this move, the government has put the future of students at risk. Students of these 800 schools which are being merged would now have to walk or travel many kilometers. It is a blatant violation of the RTE Act 2009, wherein a primary school should be situated at a distance of less than a km,” she said.

However, Punjab education secretary Krishan Kumar refuted all allegations of violation of the RTE Act.

“There is no violation of RTE Act. No child will be forced to travel more than 1km. Where distance is more than 1 km, the school will continue as before. Largely, the schools identified are in urban areas and teachers will be posted as per their choice. In case they have any issues, we are willing to listen. If the number of students increases, schools may be restarted too,” he said.

The privatisation issue

What is problematic in this case is that the Punjab government’s policies are aiming at the privatisation of the education sector. By shutting down government schools in the state, the government is in a way promoting privatisation of primary education.

As most educationists agree, the shutting down of government schools is ensuring entry of more private players in the sector. Moreover, quality education and facilities in private schools are harder to monitor by the state.

“Push towards privatisation of school education one can see across the board. In Rajasthan this year alone 13,000 government schools were merged. The state government launched some of these merged schools and renamed them as Adarsh Vidyalaya. The government now plans to hand over these Adarsh Vidalayas to the highest bidders in the private sector,” Ambarish Rai said.