PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for suggesting that it be allowed to adopt government primary schools facing closure on account of the policy to amalgamate low-enrollment schools located in close proximity.“I do not need any advice from a political party on running the schools. The State government is capable of running the government schools,” Sawant said even as he argued that the government was only in the planning stage of merging single-teacher schools.
“Many of these government schools have just four to five students where the quality of education imparted comes into question. We are consulting PTAs and all stakeholders,” Sawant said.
The chief minister who also holds the education portfolio said the amalgamation of schools could help the State government to provide better facilities and the aim is to improve the quality of education.
"We are not only interested in just the buildings but the quality of education that is imparted in these schools," he said, adding that he is aware of the need to have primary schools located in close proximity to where the children reside.
The chief minister also appealed that the move being explored to amalgamate government primary schools with low enrollment with nearby aided schools should not be politicised.
"There should not be opposition. There has been criticism in the past about closure of such schools. Some parents are opposing the move and at times some in the villages pick it up as a political issue,” he said.
Sawant claimed he was among those instrumental to put off a proposal back in 2012 to close down several of these Marathi primary schools and as such there should not be any anxiety on the issue.
The AAP led by its State Convenor Amit Palekar had on Tuesday submitted a letter to the Director of Education expressing its opposition to the move to shut down some of these primary schools by amalgamating them.
AAP which professes providing quality education through government schools as one of its core agendas said it is willing to adopt these schools which the government is likely to shut and run them efficiently to improve both enrollment and quality of education.
Palekar in the letter to the DoE has cited the AAP government's model of school education in Delhi to argue that government schools can be run efficiently and compete with private institutions.
