In a significant development, the state government has decided that girls and boys schools operating on the same premises will be merged into a single co-educational school. According to a government resolution (GR) issued by the School Education and Sports Department on October 7, the government stated that co-education schools are in line with the times as they promote equality, mutual respect between sexes, and preparation for real world environments. The state government has ordered that such schools should immediately be merged and operate under a single UDISE number. Additionally, the right to convert the status of standalone schools into co-ed schools is now being vested with the Education Commissioner, a post currently held by IAS Sachindra Pratap Singh. “Co-education creates an environment of equality, increases mutual respect and understanding between the sexes, promotes healthy social and communication skills, and prepares students for the diverse, real-world environment that comes after school. Co-education also promotes balanced participation in academics and activities. Running co-educational schools is in line with the times, with the aim of preventing a feeling of gender discrimination in children at the school age and ensuring that boys and girls get the opportunity to study together and develop their personalities in a healthy way,” stated the GR. In the past, a policy of providing separate schools for girls was adopted to spread secondary education among girls. According to the government, after 2001, a large-scale expansion of permanent non-grant secondary education has taken place. The GR also mentioned that Bombay High Court’s judgment in 2000 ordered that separate permission should not be given for setting up of girls’ schools. According to 2024-25 data on the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +) Dashboard, 97.60 per cent of 1,08,250 schools in the state are already co-ed schools. Only 1.54 per cent of total schools are girls only schools and just 0.84 per cent schools are boys only schools. Veteran educationist and former Director of Primary Education of Maharashtra Vasant Kalpande said, “This is a welcome step, and I feel that the government should convert all gendered schools into co-ed. For a long time, separate schools have not been in demand. I remember girls' schools started declining around 1980s. There was a girl’s school in Malvan, which recorded low enrolment. As Deputy Director of Kolhapur region, I suggested they convert to co-ed, but they refused. Later they had to shut shop.” Kalpande added that gendered schools exist only in cities and towns, and that their presence is negligible in rural regions.
