Tripura to Merge 961 Schools Following Low Enrollment of Students

Agartala, October 25 2019:

Tripura state government has planned to merge as many as 961 schools following low enrollment of students.

According to Tripura Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, the cabinet has approved the merging of these schools and around 8,000 students, reportedly, will be shifted in the neighboring schools. However, the shifting process will be done in phases to facilitate quality education to these students.

The cabinet also approved a proposal for transportation scheme, apart from the merge plan, that will fund the students. The Directorate of elementary education will fund the students for traveling, said Nath.

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The Education minister, while speaking on the lines of the new scheme said that transportation cost will be provided to the students who will be readmitted after the merging of their schools.

Students who travel 0-1.5 km from their residence will be exempted from the scheme. Rs. 5 per journey will be provided to the ones who travel 1.5-3 km for students from Classes 1 to 5. The government will also provide the transportation cost for one guardian along with a student, studying in primary section.

A cost of Rs. 10 per journey will be provided to students of Classes 6-8 and students travelling for more than 3 km will be given Rs. 12 per km.

It may be mentioned here that there are 4398 schools in Tripura, among which, 946 are primary and 15 are upper primary schools.  According to Nath, quality education becomes difficult in these 961 schools where the student strength is only 0-25.

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The Education Minister said that PR learning, social behavior, conversation, competition, friendship, groups sports have been affected due to the low enrollment in these schools. Therefore, the state government has decided to merge the schools.

It may be mentioned here that the Tripura government plans to cover 1,000 students in the first year. More than 40 lakhs have been estimated for this year’s expenditure. In 2020-21 and the next phase, the state government has estimated over Rs. 4 and Rs. 9 Crores respectively for the transportation scheme.

The amount will be disbursed quarterly in the bank accounts of the guardians of the students of these 961 schools.

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