Karnataka to shut 3,000 schools

BANGALORE: The Department of Public Instruction will soon shut more than 3,000 schools. Reason: these schools have less than 10 students.Though a recent department circular issued to directors, deputy directors and block education officers does not explicitly say these 3,000 schools will be closed, it says schools with less than 10 students will be merged with nearby schools. With this, the number of government schools in Karnataka, including primary, higher primary and high schools will come down to around 50,000 from more than 53,000 schools previously.According to the circular, there are 590 lower primary schools and 27 higher primary schools with less than five students and 2,483 lower primary and 74 higher primary schools with less than 10 students. The circular has directed the deputy directors of each district to identify nearby schools where these students can be enrolled. The department has also constituted school merger committees at district as well as taluk levels.Schools with less than five students will be merged by October 2011, while those with less than 10 students are told to merge by November 2011. While students will join nearby schools, teachers will be allotted new schools through counselling.Defending the decision, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education  Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri said that in order to create an “academic atmosphere”, there should be adequate number of students. Moreover, Kageri said the Centre had asked the state not to run schools with fewer than 20 students. Kageri, however, said some schools located in the Western Ghats and the coastal region have been exempted from this circular. For instance, there is a school with just three students in Kageri’s own region. “But the nearest school is 12 km away and in such cases, the school will be retained,” he clarified.