Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Merger of Schools in Odisha)

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Merger of Schools in Odisha

The Odisha government has decided to shut 8,000-odd primary and upper primary state schools from the current academic year on the ground that their minimal student strength is not viable to let them run.

In March, the state government had initiated a merger of 11,517 schools with low enrolment. These schools included 6,350 primary, upper primary and higher schools which have less than 20 students and 5,177 schools which have less than 40 students.
The move termed “Consolidation and rationalisation” under Niti Aayog’s Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) project is already under implementation with around 8000-odd schools in Odisha with student strength less than 20 being closed and merged with nearest schools called Lead Schools over last few months.
For a Primary school, a nearby Primary (I-V)/Upper Primary (I-VIII/VI-VIII)/ Secondary (I-X), will be identified for consolidation.
Similarly, for an Upper Primary (I-VIII/VI-VIII), a nearby Upper Primary (I-VIII/VI-VIII) or high school (I-X/VI-X) would be identified for the merger process. As per 2016 statistics of the school and mass education department, Odisha has around 58,000 primary and upper primary government schools.

As per the state government notification, every student from the schools that are facing closure will be provided a one-time facilitation allowance of Rs 3,000 on their admission to the Lead School.
All teachers/headmaster/staff (including mid-day meal cook etc.) of the schools that are facing closure will also move to the Lead School without any change in their service conditions.
If the Lead school distance is beyond 1 km, transport allowance as per RTE norms would be provided to the students.

SATH-E aims to create role model States for education and mainstream ‘islands of excellence’ across the country to facilitate qualitative and quantitative transformation of learning outcomes.
Combining technology with need-based, data-driven assessment and a ‘giving it what it takes’ approach - be it innovation, incubation, external third party funding and PublicPrivate- Philanthropic Partnership (PPPP) experimentation – SATH-E puts the States in the driver’s seat to transform education at scale.
The SATH-E initiative in based on formal agreements with the States and will be funded through a cost-sharing mechanism between NITI Aayog and the participating states.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership (PFEL) were chosen as knowledge partners for the project facilitating review, data collection and implementation.
SATH-E has been envisaged as a programme which aims to transform elementary and secondary school education across the states.
SATH-E roadmap refers to a time-bound, goal-driven exercise that will reach its logical culmination by the end of the academic year 2020. Further, the foundations of other longterm interventions, as is found necessary by each state, would be laid during this period.

Parents and activists from across the state have opposed the move. Activists have argued that closure or merger of schools is in violation of section 3 and 8 of the RTE Act.
Majority of these schools are from tribal belts on hilly terrains. Closure of schools in a village will only increase the dropout rate as it won’t be feasible for students to travel far to attend school. Geographical constraints should also be considered before closing down schools
Parents are also concerned that if their children fail to attend school, they will also be deprived of the midday meals.
The district collectors have been authorised to cancel the merger if genuine concerns arise.