Gujarat Education Department Seeks IIMA Intervention to Address Opposition to Merger of Schools
According to the education department, the merging process will be conducted in a phased manner. Around 5,100 government primary schools across Gujarat have less than 100 students.
The State Education Department plans to pursue help from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) in order to initiate support from the public after facing opposition to the introduced clubbing of government primary schools.
IIMA’s Ravi J Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation (RJMCEI) will enlist all the projects that the education department is working on to generate a pragmatic image for bringing together the schools. These projects focus on improving the standard of training the teachers and standard of education at government schools.
Vinod Rai, Secretary Education said that they want the process to be smooth without opposition from the public. It is after all for their own benefit.
A survey conducted by the education department said that the merging will be organised in phases. Some 2,500-3,000 government primary schools out of an estimated number of 5,100 will be clubbed with other government schools, which will mark the beginning of the process. These schools are those that are ‘non-viable’ according to the standards of the education department.
We are aware of the decision of this merger made by the state government and if asked, we will work on this project, he said.
In 2013, the education department cited around 13,450 primary schools with 100 or fewer students and approx. 6,826 primary schools with 50 or fewer students to be clubbed with the closest school. It introduced this proposal several times between 2013 and 2019 to counter how such schools affected the standard of education in other schools.
Also Read: IIMA to Help Andhra Pradesh Govt Fight Corruption
The President of The Gujarat State Primary Teachers’ Association (GSPTA), Digvijaysingh Jadega said that this merging will prompt a higher drop-out rate in government schools at the primary level. And, with the non-availability of secondary schools in villages, the drop-out is higher in the secondary classes.
Non-availability of subject and class teachers, one teacher training for more than one subject and no infrastructure facilities due to less enrollment of students were put forward by the education department as other reasons.
Mujahid Nafees from the Right To Education (RTE) Forum said that they will protest against this violation that makes free and compulsory education for all mandatory. By doing this, the government is hiding its inefficiency by saying that not enough teachers are available. He also added that is there is a shortage, then the state government should be responsible to recruit more teachers.
Also Read: IIMA to Introduce PG Diploma in Advanced Business Analytics From Next Year
The state government claimed that no student or teacher would be affected by this decision. Dahod, Kheda, Panchmahal, and Nanaskantha districts have been identified with the highest number of schools. However, the department survey says that the Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot have the lowest.
As Vinod Rai said, the central government is already working on different education programs of the government and it is sure about a positive outcome.