1,314 schools were shut down in Maharashtra subject to a below-average enrollment scenario. This was revealed through a statement issued by the Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde. The schools that were shut down had less than 10 students each. According to the Right to Education (RTE) act, any school with less than 20 students can be closed. The students will be transferred to other nearby schools, some of which are in remote locations. Tawde said that the decision has been taken for the benefit of the students only.

The Ground Realities

Mukund Kirdat, a spokesperson from the Aam Admi Party unit in Pune shared his views on the issue. He opined, “As per the RTE act, it is the duty of the government to provide school education for students in their neighbourhood areas. However, there are many villages in Maharashtra from which kids find it difficult to commute even two to three kilometres to reach their schools. The parents of most of these kids belong to the lower strata of the society. On most occasions, both the father and the mother go out for work. The transport facility for most of these villages are substandard and in some cases there are no roads as well. Consequently, the kids need to go on foot through difficult grounds, which is rather difficult for them at such a tender age.”

He added, “We went to do some research at some villages in the Maval region in Maharashtra. The families staying in those villages are less in number and most of them stay in critical geographical areas. It becomes difficult for the parents to accompany their kids to school every day. The government has declared that the strength of the schools can’t be less than 20. This condition, the government claims, is important for ensuring social development. However, I believe that the it is more important to set up schools in nearby areas then having higher enrollment rates. This is so that the students can go to the schools on a daily basis and without facing substantial difficulties.

A Critical Understanding of the Issue

Let us take a close look at a village known as Raireshwar Killa in the Bhor District of Maharashtra. Narayan Dhodiba Jangam, the Sarpanch of the village, expressed his concerns on the issue. He said, “If the school in our village shuts down, our kids will have to travel 10 kilometers to reach the nearby school. The students are very young and it is rather difficult for them to travel such a distance. Our school has classes till the seventh standard and the number of students is around 15. If this school gets closed, these students will be deprived of education as the next school is in a village called Korle, which is about 10 to 15 kilometres away. It will require three hours to reach the school and three hours to come back. Additionally, the route is also very difficult.”

He added, “The students cannot go to the next school as they are very young. Even if they intend to go there, there are no transportation facilities and safety measures. It becomes very stressful for young kids to travel so much in rural areas. How can we expect seven and eight-year-old kids to walk five to seven kilometers daily to reach school? In our village, there are kids who go to Wai for high-school education. They walk for four to five kilometers and then get the public transport”.

Realities Being Ignored

Kishore Darak, a Pune-based educational consultant and researcher expressed his anguish over the decision and wrote a letter to the Governor and Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The letter was also sent to other government stakeholders informing them about the various loopholes of the decision. The letter stated that this decision of closing 1,314 schools, has snatched the right of a student to receive education. Before this, two more formal letters were sent to the Chief Minister and the Governor on December 18, 2017 and December 24, 2017.

According to the letters, “The schools which have been in the list of closure cater to students or Children, who belong to highly marginalized sections of the society. The School Education Department (SED) maintained high level of secrecy and didn’t reveal any data related to the total category-wise number of children, who will actually be affected by this decision. This also resulted in publicly-expressed anguish by some Members of Parliament (MP) from Maharashtra.”

The letter added, “The closure of the district-wise schools will largely affect the education of children from the marginalized background. In the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, 49 schools have been closed among which 21 percent of the schools have 100 percent children from the marginalized communities, 11 percent of schools have 50 to 99 percent of children from the marginalized communities. The total number of closed schools that caters to the marginalized children is 32. The total percentage of children from the marginalized groups in these closed schools is 66 percent.”

The letter informed, “In Pune District, 76 schools are being closed, among which schools with 100 percent children from the marginalized groups are 19. Schools with 50 to 99 percent of children from the marginalized group are 11. The total number of closed schools that caters to the marginalized children is 33. The total percentage of children from the marginalized groups in these closed schools is 46.58 percent.”

The letter also stated, “In Sangli district, the total number of schools being closed is 15. Schools with 100 percent children from the marginalized groups are three and with 50 to 99 percent children from the marginalized groups are seven. The total number of closed schools that caters to the marginalized children is 10. The total percentage of children from the marginalized groups in these closed schools is 65.54 percent.”

The analysis goes even further. In four schools from Sangli district, Other Backward Class (OBC) students constitute the majority (54 to 93 percent) and in two other schools from the same district, Muslim students constitute the majority (85 to 100 percent). The schools that are being closed by the SED had overall 65.54 percent children from the marginalized groups and communities. Another highlighted point is that about four percent students among these students are Children with Special Needs (CWSN).

In Ahmednagar district, one school facing closure has 100 percent Scheduled Tribe (ST) children while five schools have 100 percent Muslim students. In addition, there are six schools with OBC forming the majority (80 to 90 percent) and one school with children from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community forming the majority (71.4 percent). In Akole block alone in Ahmednagar district, nine schools among the 14 schools under closure have cent percent children from the ST section.

Among the schools being shut down, Pune district has one school catering to 100 percent SC students, three schools have 100 percent ST students, five schools have 100 percent OBC students and one school has 100 percent Muslim students. In Ahmednagar district, overall 44.6 percent children from the ST category would suffer, whereas in Akole Block of the same district, which has the highest population from the ST category within the district, 87.6 percent of children belong to the ST section are going to bear the brunt of the decision.

Violation of Existing Statutes

The information provided is a clear indication of the fact that the decision take by the SED is in clear violation of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) guidelines. Also, the decision has been taken without consulting local communities, school going children, teachers and local authorities.

The letter, written by Darak, requested the authorities, to withdraw all the decisions taken by the SED concerning this issue. Stakeholders from multiple sections of the society expressed their solidarity with the letter.

In another letter by Darak to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, the distance factor was noted. RTE doesn’t specify any distance between two schools. However, the distance to a school from a child’s home is specified. The distance needs to be up to one kilometre till Grade V while it needs to be up to three kilometres beyond Standard V. However, after the closure of the schools, there are many schools that are situated three to four kilometres from the kids’ homes instead of the specified one kilometre.

Also, Marathi medium schools are being merged with English medium schools or Urdu medium schools are being merged with Marathi medium schools in the Wardha and Patbhani districts. Some schools, falling under the PESA act [Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996], are at the risk of being merged. The department didn’t bother to take prior consent of local residents as mandated by the act. There are many institutions that are working in the rural areas with the fundamental motive of providing education to the needy people. The decision to close schools is going to affect their hard work as well.

#ClosingSchoolsInMaharashtra #RTEAct

Reporting by Preeti Singh
Special Correspondent, Pune

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