File photo of a government school in Kerala. Onmanorama Rather than leading legal fights over closing schools that are not profitable, what is needed is a practical approach to solve the issue. Efforts by managements to close down schools that are unprofitable using loopholes in existing rules cannot be justified. It is imperative to either make changes to the rules or appeal to courts to prevent such misadventure by school managements.
This is a time when school managements prefer to close down schools and use the facility for more profitable ventures. As per KER, private school managements need to provide only a one-year notice to the government to close down schools. The notion that only a notice needs to be sent by managements and that the government does not have to give approval for the closure, has to be changed.
On the other hand, it is also not practical that a school has to be kept open even if only one student is remaining in the school. Schools are intended to impart quality education; not operate as a reason for squabbles and quibbles.
As per the 2014-15 financial survey, there are 5573 schools in the private and public domain that are not profitable. On an average, these schools do not have more than 15 students per class. In another study, it was found that in about 3,000 schools, there are 13 teachers per 30 students, which is about two teacher per student. Even compulsory education norms stipulate a ratio of 1:30. All this means that in about 517 schools, there are 15 teachers to teach about 25 children.
I remember what I did during my tenure as education minister when a similar situation arose. I did not bow down to management pressure to close down non-profitable schools. At the same time, I was lenient to schools that genuinely had a financial problem. We had to close down schools that had no chance of survival. In other schools, with the help of the PTA, we sought alternate means to run schools. Some of these schools escaped closure because of the hard work by PTA and teachers. At that time, special laws were enacted to safeguard the interest of teachers if schools had no other alternative than closure.
There is no point in taking a stubborn stance that schools would not be closed even if it had one student in it. Qualified teachers would not care to accept appointment in that school and the products of that school would not have the confidence to face the world. At the same time, the liability of the government would increase without any reason.
When such schools are discussed, it is mandatory to take the PTA and teachers into confidence. They need to be given a chance if they feel that they can handle the school well. The management would have ulterior motives in pressing for the closure of a school and no government should accept such dubious proposals. It is sad that infrastructure of closed schools go to waste. They need to be used for good purposes by the government.
(The author is a former education minister.)
