In Tripura there are three government-run schools with no student, three schools with only one student each, one school with two students and another two schools with only three students.
Similarly, in ADC, four schools have no student, two schools have one student each, and another four schools have only two students each. That is out of 4200 schools—around 2600 government-run and 1600 in ADC.
It was at this backdrop that the state government decided to utilize the infrastructure of rural schools where the number of students is zero or less for improving the quality of education.
Addressing a press conference, Education minister Ratanlal Nath has said the department has invited participation of private organizations connected in the field of education for running such schools.
As the schools are facing shortage of students for a long time, the state government has now decided to utilize the infrastructure of such schools and restart them in a new spirit with private participation, Nath said.
He said the government’s initiative for private aims at creating centre of education excellence in rural areas, a new approach in learning process and introducing computer and activity-based education system.
In that case, the private educational organizations need to have eligibility to run at least two CBSE-affiliated schools with around 1500 students or in case of one school, the number of students must be at least 1000.
The government would offer handsome discounts in case of providing land or infrastructure in lease to such private organizations based on the marks of the students. The Investment Facilitation Committee headed by the Chief Secretary would examine such aspects and if the committee gives approval, the government would take decision on handing over infrastructures or land in lease.
The Education minister said the state government would bear the expenditures for providing books, uniforms and other study materials to the students in case of handing over schools to private organizations. In case of admission, 25 percent seats of such schools would be reserved for the needy students while the government would bear the expenditure for their study.
He said a section is trying to misguide the people by wrong interpretation of the government’s decision. Director of School Education Chandni Chandran was present in the press conference.
