The Tripura cabinet has decided to merge 961 schools from the different parts of the state. This according to the cabinet will help to tackle the low enrollment of the students and also to improve the quality of education provided.
While addressing the reporters, the education minister of Tripura, Ratan Lal Nath said that there are a number of schools that do not have students. The number of students in these schools is as low as 0 to 25 with other problems including providing quality education to the students in these schools.
After a cabinet meeting which was conducted, the minister said that the students are not inspired at schools with fewer students. They lag in social etiquette, conversational skills and scope for group studies and sports which is why the decision to merge the schools was taken. This decision he added was inspired by similar initiatives that have been taken previously by Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Odisha.
According to data by the government, close to 8000 students are currently enrolled in schools which also include 915 primary schools and 46 senior basic schools that are spread across Tripura including the tribal areas which fall under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
The minister also told the reporters that the opinions of the students, teachers, and guardians along with infrastructural needs, the medium of instruction, connectivity etc will be considered before finally merging these schools.
Since most of the schools are located in rural areas, the state government has come up with a unique scheme to provide transportation fares to the students' ad guardians to travel back and forth. He added that the travel fares will be provided in case the institutions are 1 to 5 kilometers away from the student’s residence emphasizing that fares will not be provided for the students who are enrolled in schools that are less than a kilometers away.
The government has this year closed down 12 schools due to a shortage of students and handed over the management of these schools to a private educational trust which resulted in a standoff between the state chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and former CM, Manik Sarkar. The management of the mid-day meal programme was also handed over to a private trust in some of the rural block development areas.
The state at present has 4, 398 government and government-aided schools along with 335 private schools wherein close to 5 lakh students study. As per recent reports, the state government spends approximately Rs. 21, 138 on the education of each student in a year at the primary level and close to Rs. 7600 on the education of the students at the elementary level.
The literacy level of Tripura today is 94.65 percent. The state tops the list with respect to literacy although it is struggling with student enrollment in schools.
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