Merged & shut down schools will reopen: Education Minister
Bhubaneswar : Odisha schools that faced forced closure & shut down for good, in the previous government will be restored, said Education Minister Nityanand Gond on Friday.
Expressing deep concern over the dropout rates that’s on the rise, Gond asserted that the schools those faced permanent closure due the BJD government’s merger policy & less enrollment, will be soon reopened.
In a significant decision aimed at improving access to education, the Odisha government on Friday announced plans to reopen schools that were previously shut down due to the school merger policy implemented by the previous government.
Gond informed the Odisha Assembly that necessary procedural measures are being put in place to facilitate the reopening of the premier institutions.
Gond underlined the the merger and closure of at least 5,632 primary & UGME schools along with as many as 2,152 satellite schools carried out by the former government was quite abrupt, arbitrary and illogical. Thousands of schools were shut down in this way without any proper social-economic assessment and its impact on students & the local communities.
The Odisha government now has introduced new guidelines to reopen the institutions.
Enrollment of at least 20 students in a school in scheduled areas & at least 40 students in a school in the non-scheduled area, are now the parameters for reopening, the Minister added.
