4

Through arbitrary mergers?

On July 1, when the new academic session was to start, 12 middle and 17 primary schools were closed for merger as part of the rationalization exercise. These were merged with 27 others. (23 schools were each merged with another single school; in one case 3 schools were merged into one other; in one case two schools were merged into one other; and in one case one school was merged into two others). In all, therefore, the merger affected 56 primary and middle schools (Box-4).

At the meeting of the District Planning Committee on 29 May 1999 only the proposals in respect of opening new schools and transferring teachers found to be “excess” in existing schools were approved as part of rationalization measures. Most newspapers mentioned only these decisions in their reports of the said meeting. Newspapers did report the collector’s reservation as to whether it was justifiable to let schools with very poor enrollment continue functioning. However, it appears that this matter was not explicitly discussed at the meeting. The members of the Zila Sarkar did not deliberate upon, for instance, which specific schools should be merged or what should be the general criteria for identifying schools for closure and merger. Nevertheless, two days after the meeting at least one newspaper subsequently quoted the collector as follows: “17 primary schools with poor enrollment will be merged with 17 other primary schools and 12 middle schools with poor enrollment will be merged with 8 other middle schools” (Nai Duniya, 31 May 1999, p.4).

In spite of the collector’s statement and although the very premise of mergers is poor enrollment, schools being closed are not always the ones with poor enrollment! As mentioned previously, the District Collector’s report mentions 177 schools in Indore which have less than 45 students and the Education Minister had informed the state assembly of 47 primary and middle schools with less than 50 students. However, only 15 of the 29 schools closed and 30 of the 56 schools affected by the merger had less than 50 students! Likewise, a newspaper report (Nai Duniya, May 31) had a box item on the Collector’s remarks on poor enrollment in middle schools, which he substantiated with 17 examples. But only one of these is included in the 12 middle schools that were closed and merged! On the other hand, at least 4 schools with more than 100 students have been closed. This includes the primary school in Hukumchand Colony (item 15 in Box-4) which has 308 students and which has been merged into a school that even the teachers could not locate! This also includes (notwithstanding the education department’s proposal for expanding pre-primary facilities) one of the three pre-primary schools currently run by the government in Indore – the Balmandir PS no.1 on MG Road (item 17 in Box-4) – which has 280 students. This also includes school no.88 in Haat Maidan (item 1 in Box-4) with 186 students which is functioning out of the premises of the privately run Agrasen school to which land was allotted by then Chief Minister PC Sethi on the express condition that a government school would also be allowed to operate from the premises

Apart from the obvious absurdity of closing well-attended schools there is also the question of how a large school can be satisfactorily “merged” into another school. In most cases, the classroom size is such that it may be physically impossible to subsume even a small school (or, for that matter, accommodate the 1:45 teacher student ratio that the administration seems to be striving to achieve). A case in point is the school with 36 students in Malviya Nagar (item 7 in Box-4) that was closed to be merged into a school with 257 students. The latter school, however, operates out of a dilapidated two-room building and could not admit more students! A more glaring anomaly of this utterly irrational “rationalization” is that at least 11 of the 29 schools closed have been “merged” with smaller schools, often in worse buildings! The Marathi PS no.104 in Shivaji Nagar (item 2 in Box-4) with 70 students, for instance, has been merged with a school that has 17 students and one room. The Marathi PS no.20 in Moti Tabela (item 6 in Box-4) with 86 students has been merged with a school that has only 4 students.

Nor are the schools being closed necessarily the ones in dilapidated buildings. For the 323 government schools in Indore, there are 150 buildings, 51 of which are dilapidated and have, in fact, been declared dangerous. There are possibly others that are also in poor condition. However, only 3 of the schools that have been closed were operating out of dilapidating buildings – Sindhi PS no.26 in Badwali Chowk, PS in Malviya Nagar and PS no.43 in Yashwant Ganj (items 3, 7 and 13 in Box-4). And all of these have been merged with schools that are also operating out of dilapidating buildings! Moreover, a number of schools operating out of average or good buildings have been merged with smaller schools operating out of buildings in poor condition. For instance, Sindhi PS no.71 in Sindhi Colony (item 4 in Box-4) which has 115 students has been merged with a school with 31 students and a dilapidating building. MS no.34 on RNT Marg (item 8 in Box-4 – middle schools) which has 45 students has been merged with a school with 17 students and a dilapidated building. MS no.14 in Badarawla (item 12 in Box-4 – middle schools) which has 82 students has been merged with a school that has 30 students and a run-down building. On the other hand, the Shantinagar PS in Musakhedi has been functioning under a tree since its inception, but is not in the list of schools to be merged (Nav Bharat, July 1, 1999).

Nor are the schools being closed necessarily the ones in encroached premises. A newspaper report gave examples of 25 schools with encroachments (Nav Bharat, April 3, 1996). But only two of these have been closed for merger (items-4 and 8 in Box-4 – middle schools). On the other hand two of these have been expanded (items 12 and 13 in Box-4).

The administration also seems to have disregarded gender concerns in primary education. There are two cases where a primary school has been merged into a primary school for girls! One of these is the PS no.11 on Devi Ahilya Marg (item-10 in Box-4). The other is the PS in Hukumchand Colony (item-15 in Box-4) that, as already mentioned has 308 students and, moreover, the girls’ school into which it has been merged could not be located. Also noteworthy is the fact that 3 middle schools for girls – with 65, 55 and 32 students – in the same area have been closed (MS no. 1, 7 and 14 (items 5, 6 and 7 in Box-4 – middle schools) on MG Road/Nagar Nigam Road). So much for commitment towards educating the girl child!

The administration also seems oblivious to the city’s heritage. At least one of the schools that has been closed down – MS no.16 on MG Road (item 1 in Box-4 – middle schools) – operates out of a 100-year-old building complex constructed by the Holkars that is home also to 16 other schools!

Sadly, the administration also seems to be completely indifferent to performance of schools. An almost callous disregard of the basic values of encouraging good performance by our children and appreciating the efforts of voluntary organizations is seen in the case of the closure of the Girls Middle School No.1 on Nagar Nigam Road (item 6 in Box-4 – middle schools) which has 65 students. This school has a band that leads other schools on 26 January and 15 August and, last year, also participated in the Republic day celebrations at Delhi. And the Lion’s Club has been actively supporting it for several years (Box-5).

Surely such arbitrary mergers – which disregard all possible rational criteria like enrollment size, building condition, gender status, school performance, etc – could not be helping “rationalization” of any kind!

Box-4: Primary and middle schools merged as part of rationalization measures

School closed and merged (Students) / School into which merged (Students)