After Textbooks, Rajasthan Government To Review School-Mergers During BJP Regime

The Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government has issued an order seeking to review the merger of primary and upper-primary schools by the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government, reports The Indian Express.

The Elementary Education Department has reportedly asked officials to review the merger of all schools between the academic sessions of 2014-15 and 2017-18 to ensure that they were done after following due process.

According to IE, the government order mentions that a total of 3,717 primary schools were merged with other such institutions in that period.

The BJP government in December 2013, had merged 17,000 primary and upper primary schools with secondary and higher secondary schools, stating that such mergers were done with the aim of increasing the quality of education and better use of the resources of the state.

The number of schools in Rajasthan went down from 1,19,574 in 2013-14 to 1,06,254 in 2014-15, IE quoted data from the District Information System for Education (DISE).

Earlier during the BJP rule, Congress had protested the move. The party had also stated in its election manifesto that it would review and reopen more than 20,000 schools that, it alleged, were closed by the BJP government.

“According to RTE norms, it is compulsory to have a primary school within 1-km radius and an upper primary school within 2 km. If any school has been merged against these conditions, after identifying them, send a proposal to reopen them to the government,” the order reads.

However, BJP has maintained that the mergers were done in accordance with rules, with an objective to provide better and quality education. Many primary and upper primary schools were found under-utilising their facilities, which necessitated their mergers with secondary and higher secondary schools.