SED to provide Rs 500 transportation charges to students of Institutions to be merged/out of catchment area

‘Decision taken after decision of merging hundreds of schools across Kashmir’

Bhat Imran

Srinagar, Mar 29 (KNO): The School Education Department is likely to provide transportation charges of Rs 500 every month to the students of those institutions that are scheduled to be merged and will be out of catchment area.

Top sources in the administration told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the decision was taken following the decision of merging hundreds of Schools across the Valley.

“There may be some students of those schools that will be merged and possibly some of them may fall out of the catchment area,” the official said.

The official also said that, “In order to provide them transportation facilities, the department is likely to provide them Rs 500 per month as transportation fee.”

Earlier, KNO reported that the School Education Department is likely to merge 74 government-run-schools of Srinagar district having low disproportionate Teacher Pupil Ratio (TPR).

According to the official figures the department is likely to propose clubbing of 74 schools includes 21 Primary Schools, 37 Middle Schools, 16 High Schools and one Higher Secondary School.

It also reveals that among the primary and middle schools identified for the clubbing, most of the schools were from Nishat zone.

Earlier this year, the Jammu and Kashmir government has sought details of schools with low enrolment to ‘vacate such premises in order to merge the schools’ to streamline the Teacher Pupil Ratio (TPR).

The government in a communiqué issued to Director of School Education of Kashmir and Jammu and Project Director, Samagra Shiksha in December-2021 has asked them to provide details of government-run-schools with low enrolment.

Deputy Director for Planning Development and Monitoring has said, “The decisions taken in Committee of Secretaries (CoS) meeting headed by Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Arun Kumar Mehta on December-1 regarding the schools with low enrollment and as desired by the higher authorities, I am directed to convey that the expected criteria for proposing the vacating of school buildings due to likely merger of schools with low enrolment may be taken.”

Stating the criteria, the official has said that the details regarding low enrolment shall be submitted of all government primary schools with enrolment less than 10 students.

“All government and upper primary and middle schools with enrolment less than 30 students and all the government high schools with enrolment less than 70 enrolments,” it reads—(KNO)