After Odisha’s school merger push, result is out: many students not back in class after reopening

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Pandaspadar primary school was one of more than 4,800 shut down by November 2020 and merged with nearby ones under a 2017 NITI Aayog project to “rationalise” schools with low enrollment.

Now, none of its 14 students have resumed physical classes. After the merger, the students were enrolled in Balipadra primary school; getting there requires travelling 3 km across either a farm or an unpaved road, both of which flood during the monsoon.

The distance seems small, but for parents, many of whom work as farm labourers or migrate elsewhere for work, escorting their wards may mean losing out on income.

Take for instance Gunu Twika, a class 4 student who spent Monday playing with friends. Pointing to poor internet connectivity, his father Pandu Twika said: “For the last two years my child has hardly studied. Online classes are not possible and there was no supervision in the last two years. Both my wife and I go to work at 9 am and return after lunch. We can not let him walk alone since he is just eight. If we drop and bring him back, we fear losing a day’s work.” The Pandaspadar primary school was hardly 100 metres away from their residence.

Parents are also concerned about the safety of girls, even if they eventually walk to their new school in a group. Nidra Twika enrolled her six-year old daughter in class 1 the previous year. Her husband migrated to Kerala four months ago in search of work while she stayed back to look after her daughter and two-year-old son. In the absence of men, who mostly migrate for work, women usually take charge of farm and family.

“She is just six, what if something untoward happens on the way? I cannot carry my son for such a long distance all the way to the school. I do not know what to do but I want her to study. We might enroll her in a hostel,” Nidra said.

The genesis of Odisha’s school merger — the 2017 NITI Aayog programme — is called Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E). Odisha was among three states, along with Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, selected by NITI Aayog for the project to implement education reform, which included, among other things, school rationalisation. Under it, schools with low enrollment were closed and their students were shifted to the nearest ones.

The results are there to see in village after village. Dipping attendances, guardians forced to send children away to other places, and loss of learning.

No different are the neighbouring Bhodal and Urjang villages of Cuttack’s Kantapada block, some 400 kilometres away from Pandaspadar.

In November 2020, the primary schools here were merged with the Parsanpur primary school, nearly two kilometres away.

Twenty-five students from Bhodal and 18 from Urjang were enrolled here. On Wednesday, when The Indian Express visited the school, only eight of them were present.

Govind Sethi, a student of class 5 who lives with his elderly grandparents in Bhodal, is among those who hasn’t resumed school. The Bhodal primary school where he earlier studied was 300 metres away from his home. His mother works as a contractual farm labourer after his father died a year-and-a-half ago in an accident.

Govind has been enrolled in private tuition close to his home in the village, costing his mother Rs 200 a month. He spends two hours every day learning the basics of language, science and maths. “Neither I nor his grandfather can walk him or drive him to school. The route to the school has three crossroads and there is heavy vehicular movement throughout the day. How can we risk sending him to school like this ?” Govind’s grandmother Lata Sethi said. They are now requesting their relatives in other districts to accommodate Govind and enrol him there.

“We do not wish to send him away, but there is no other option. Our child’s safety is foremost,” Lata added.

Parents say merging the Urjang and Bhodal primary schools would have been far more convenient. “The distance between Urjang and Bhodal is much smaller. Merging the two schools would have reduced the distance. Now, two buildings lie unused,” said Reena Bhoi. Reena has a daughter studying in class 4 and a son in class 5. Both of them were home and had not gone to school. Reena said she was unaware of the school reopening and added that she would try to work out a way out to continue her children’s education.

The School and Mass Education (SME) Department of Odisha, under the SATHE Project, had planned to shut down 14,000 schools, of which it has been able to close 4,841 till date. The process was expected to be completed in December 2020 — the SME department issued a circular asking district collectors and education officers to expedite the merger in March 2020 — but stalled by November that year owing to the pandemic and the lockdown.

In December 2020, after multiple protests by parents and educational activists, the SME department modified the initial notice and said primary schools with fewer than 15 students — rather than the original 20 — would be merged with other schools in scheduled areas and backward areas of the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) region, thus eliminating around 1,159 schools from the merger list. As for the merger of the remaining 8,000 schools, the Odisha High Court issued a stay.

The stay order came in response to as many as 168 petitions, with the single-judge bench of Justice BR Sarangi observing that the SME department should find reasons for low enrollments in the said schools and provide necessary infrastructure, rather than shutting them down.

Asked about the mergers, Odisha School Education Programme Authority Director Anupam Saha said: “This was a government policy and the implementation is over. But if there are any grievances they can be brought to us and we shall look into them.”

An educational activist said that since the mergers were undertaken during the pandemic when the schools were already closed, the decision must be reviewed. “A special assessment must be undertaken to review these cases, whether or not children are able to attend schools. The issues on the ground will only come to fore now after the schools have reopened,” said Anil Pradhan, Convenor, Odisha Right to Education Forum.