Uneconomic schools on the rise in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - The number of uneconomic schools in Kerala has gone up from over 2500 to 3661 in a span of two years, according to a recent study.

These comprise 1839 government schools and 1822 aided schools, the study conducted by the office of the state’s Director of Public Administration (DPI) said.

Speaking to IANS, DPI A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish said the last time a similar exercise was done was two year back.

“My office is completing the report, and once it is done it would be submitted to the government for suitable action. It is too early to say what would be done,” said Hanish.

The state has 4500 government schools, 7284 aided schools and 862 unaided schools.

Senior official at the DPI office Krishnan Kutty said the strength of the school is the yard stick to determine the viability of a school.

“The basic norm today is that there should be a minimum of 100 students in the schools in each of the three categories of lower primary, upper primary and high school, and if it falls below that level then it is technically known as uneconomic,” said Kutty.

A state government teacher told IANS that the unviability of the schools is not an alarming phenomenon as over the years the number of children enrolled in the government and aided schools offering the state syllabus is coming down.

“Parents now feel their kids should get the best education and for that they go to schools which offer the CBSE and the ICSE curriculum. The need of the hour is to see that quality education be provided and the children will come back,” said the teacher.

Figures published by the Economic Review point that the total number of children in these schools in 2006-07 was 47.19 lakh, it came down to 46.26 lakh the next fiscal, and it fell further to 45.46 lakh in the last fiscal.

–Indo Asian News Service