Education minister Bratya Basu said on Monday that several governments and aided schools did not have enough students, so the government planned to merge some of them.

“There are several schools that don’t have students. We are conducting a PTR (pupil-teacher ratio) study. Today I just spoke to Bobby (Firhad Hakim, the mayor of Calcutta). Two schools will be merged with the Chetla Boys’ High School. Likewise, many schools will be merged based on the study,” the minister said while inaugurating the English-medium section of Chetla Boys’ High School.

Hakim, a resident of Chetla in south Calcutta, was in attendance. The minister spoke in response to questions about the absence of students in some schools.

A recent report of the Union education ministry on the rate of dropout in schools in the 2023-24 academic year stated that the percentage of dropouts at the secondary level stands at 18.75 in Bengal, said an official in the state education department.

The figure is worse than the national average.

Union education ministry’s report is drawn based on the figures provided by the respective state governments.

On Monday, when the education minister was asked about the report, he said: “I have to look into it. I cannot vouch that their reports are flawless. However, we repeatedly told the central government to extend the mid-day meal scheme up to Class X. Students get the meal till Class VIII. They don’t get the meal when they are promoted to the secondary level. This could create problems for students from extremely underprivileged families,” Basu told reporters.

The mid-day meal is provided to students from classes I to VIII. The central government bears 60 per cent of the cost of the mid-day meal scheme. The rest is borne by the state government.

An official in the education department said they had observed that many students drop out after Class VIII and start doing odd jobs to support their families.

“The dropout rate has increased after the pandemic, which worsened the financial condition of many families. Had the mid-day meal scheme been extended till Class X, the situation could have been different. The stark contrast between the dropout rate in the primary (Class I to V), upper primary (Class VI to VIII) and secondary levels suggests this,” the official said.

The Union education ministry’s report says the drop-out rate is zero at the primary and upper primary levels.

Minister Basu said on Monday education secretary Vinod Kumar had told him that the survey on the student-teacher ration in schools is about to be completed.