286 schools with zero enrolment of students denotified in Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh Education Minister Rohit Thakur on Sunday said that 286 primary and middle schools with zero enrolment of students have been de-notified, and the teaching and non-teaching staff in these facilities would be shifted to schools facing a staff crunch.

“About 3,000 schools in the state are running with one teacher, while 455 schools are running (with teachers) on deputation basis while 12,000 posts of teachers are vacant,” he told reporters here.

There are 15,313 government-run schools in the state.

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Thakur said a set format would be followed for schools and colleges – at least 10 students for primary, 15 for middle, 20 for high, 25 for senior secondary schools and 65 for colleges and the schools and colleges not matching the parameters would be closed.

The parameters set are less than the national parameters as Himachal is a hilly state with difficult terrain.

Irrational deployment of teachers has affected the quality of education and Himachal has slipped from the fifth position to eleventh position in the performance grading index, he said and added that the next step would be to rationalise deployment of teachers and a transfer policy would be brought soon.

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Noting that questions had been raised on the quality of school uniform supplied by the government and delay in providing it, he said the government has now decided to transfer the funds for uniform to students through direct benefit transfer to bring transparency.

Taking a dig at the previous BJP government for opening 920 facilities at the fag end of its tenure, he said 320 schools were opened to woo the electorate during the last six months of the Jai Ram Thakur government.

Thakur also alleged that the previous regime had left a total loan burden of Rs 86,000 crore.