Faced with criticism over closing of around 1,300 zilla parishad schools in the State, Education Minister Vinod Tawde on Tuesday said the government has relocated only 568 schools, where fewer than 10 students are enrolled.
Mr. Tawde, speaking during a discussion in the Assembly on the state of education, said Maharashtra has around 5,600 schools with 10 or fewer enrolled students.. “Of these, 1,292 schools have been selected for relocation. Till now, 568 schools have been relocated to new premises within the radius of a kilometre,” the minister said.
Technical problems
Of the remaining schools, relocation of 341 schools has been stopped as there is no facility to transport students to the new premises. “Similarly, other technical problems have stopped relocation of the other 383 schools,” he said. Mr. Tawde said the final decision will be taken after a discussion with government officials and the community.
The government had come under fire for its decision to close schools, especially in remote areas and in hilly terrain, where the new school would not be within a 1-2km radius as is mandatory as per the Right to Education Act. The Hindu had reported that a school at Raireshwar fort was being relocated around 35km away. The National Human Rights Commission had served a notice to the government.
