The Balala Hakkula Praja Dhwani (BHPD), an NGO working for betterment of government school education, has strongly opposed the decision of the State government to close down schools that have poor enrolment rate.
Speaking at a roundtable organised by the BHPD, its State general secretary K. Lakshmana Rao criticised the Telangana government for deciding to close down primary schools which have less than 20 students.
He further said that against a total 18,581 primary schools in Telangana districts, 2,840 have below 20 student strength.
However, he feared that the government may also attempt to close down as many as 3,973 additional primary schools that have strength between 21 and 30. That amounts to about 37 per cent schools facing closure.
The entire education system would be derailed if the government goes forward with its decision, said Mr. Lakshmana Rao. Water Rights activist Dusharla Satayanarayana said that the government’s move amounts to violation of the Right to Education Act. He further said that school dropout may go up in rural areas as many poor students cannot afford to go to private schools or government schools located far away from their villages. Instead, he appealed to the government to study the factors leading to reduced student strength and strengthen the system.
District secretary of BHPD Kanchukatla Subhash expressed fear that about 944 primary schools of the total 2,282 schools in Nalgonda district were also having less than 30 student strength which the government may attempt to close down.
