Gandhian protest against closure of schools in rural Maharashtra
Ronita Torcato
The Central Government’s New Education Policy is being implemented in Maharashtra’s Raigad district with the closure of as many as 300 schools.
The rationale for closure is a low student population of less than 20 which the Government plans to relocate to distant schools where the student numbers are higher.
However, this can have an adverse effect on both students and the parents points out social activist Sandeep Patil, who is on a satyagraha protest inside the house-turned-museum of Gandhian freedom fighter, Vinoba Bhave, in rhe village of Gagode Budruk, in Raigad’s Pen taluka where 17 primary schools have been shut down.
The village is the birthplace of Bhave who launched the Bhoodan land donation movement, where Patil has been on satyagraha for over a week to raise awareness about the shutdown of the schools.
Patil points out that economically deprived (and socially backward) Katkari adivasi (tribal) students receive basic education in these free primary schools and parents will be hard pressed to send the children schools located 5 to 10 km away. He warns that this will lead to dropouts.
Pen based Deputy Collector Pravin Pawar, has met with Sandeep Patil at the satyagraha site and assured him that grievances would be forwarded to the concerned education department officials.
Raigad-based activist Vaishali Patil of Ankur Trust, said Raigad district has a tribal population of 12 percent, which includes the ‘particularly vulnerable’ tribal Katkari adivasis who send their children to Government aided schools which provide midday meals.
A peaceful ‘Pen Bandh’ was observed by the locals on the issue last week. It is pertinent to note that in a recent writ petition filed in the Bombay High Court related to the creation of cluster schools, the Government had submitted that ‘no policy decision’ had been taken to create cluster schools where small government-run schools would be merged with larger ones in the area.
The Government had referenced the CM’s 100-day plan for the school education department, and stated that the emphasis would be on strengthening infrastructure and improving support to the schools, which would henceforth be called CM Shri schools.
Pen locals have questioned why the rural primary schools have been shut down with no policy in place.
Elsewhere in India:
The Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are at loggerheads over the closure of 450 government schools in Rajasthan, including 190 primary and 260 upper primary schools. Similar concerns have been expressed in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP-led government is accused of planning to close over 27,000 government primary and junior schools. Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra has accused the BJP of systematically weakening public education to favour private institutions.
“Closing government schools has long been the BJP’s policy. This year alone, 450 schools have been shut in Rajasthan, targeting girls’ and English-medium institutions,” Dotasra said, adding that the BJP’s actions are in consonance with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) agenda to privatize education and deny marginalized communities access to education.
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