School merger idea a strategy to deprive poor from accessing education, says Akhilesh

Amid the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Department initiating the process of merging government primary and upper primary schools that have less than 50 enrolled students, the Samajwadi Party hit out at the State government calling the policy a calculated strategy to deprive poor students access to education.

“As soon as teachers and parents understand that the BJP government is anti-teacher and anti-education, the sooner the situation will change. School merger is a deliberate and calculated strategy to keep the poor away from education. This government is heartless. Such a decision will impact the rural children hailing mostly from marginalised and economically deprived groups. Children in rural areas will be forced out of the education system,” said Mr. Yadav, while addressing a meeting of various teachers associations.

Mr. Yadav promised to always stand by teachers’ demands and work to solve their problems if elected to power. “Samajwadi Party is always with the teachers, who have been standing firm on their demands for years. Whenever Samajwadi Party gets a chance, we will work to solve their problems,” the SP president added.

“Education and more so primary education is a social responsibility of the government. Deprived sections of our population in U.P. are completely dependent on the State-run education system and reviewing and reducing of schooling infrastructure is not a prudent approach. We at Samajwadi Party demand an increase in budget allocation for primary and secondary education to a healthy 10%, which is comparable to that in progressive States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala,” said Ram Pratap Singh, SP spokesperson.

The U.P. government has been initiating a plan to merge schools having enrolment of less than 50 students with nearby educational facilities to make the education system more functional and viable. As part of the consolidation plan, students from these schools will be accommodated in nearby facilities to ensure their continued education.

The officials have been directed to come up with a plan soon based on the data regarding primary schools with less than 50 students.