Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Odisha led the states in closing down government schools in 2021-22 following the Centre's policy to rationalise institutions based on low enrolments.

When the schools were shut for several months because of Covid-19 in 2021-22, states and Union Territories (UTs) closed down 9,663 government schools, according to official data provided by the government in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The number of government schools registered under the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) decreased from 10,32,049 in 2020-21 to 10,22,386 in 2021-22, minister of state for education Jayant Singh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. Also, 1,815 government-aided schools were shut down in 2021-22. Among the states, Madhya Pradesh closed down 6,457 government schools followed by Assam (1,259) and Odisha (1,184).

Congress member Hibi Eden had sought to know whether the government had undertaken or planned to undertake an evaluation of the impact of school closures and mergers. The minister evaded the question. “Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and the opening and rationalisation of schools are within the purview of respective state governments and UTs,” Singh said.

Prince Gajendra Babu, the general secretary of the State Platform for Common Schooling System, a civil society watchdog on education rights in Tamil Nadu, said the closures and mergers of public-funded schools had been endorsed by the Centre. It has been asking the states to undertake rationalisation of schools. In 2016, a group of secretaries supported the proposal for consolidation of schools with low enrolments. In 2017, the Niti Aayog supported the plan.

“The National Education Policy has introduced the concept of a school complex which seeks to merge small schools under a school complex. It will help private schools flourish when smaller ones merge under the school complex. This will lead to denial of education to the poor,” Babu said.

Under the RTE Act, every class needs to have a teacher. If the school has less than 50 children for all five classes, it would involve heavy costs on the government to support such schools with five regular teachers, it says.