No high schools, kids forced to quit studies in Rajasthan’s Barmer and Jaisailmer districts

Soon after coming to power, the BJP-led state government had promised to open a senior secondary school in every gram panchayat. However, the ground reality is that students, especially girls, are being forced to quit studies in 89 gram panchayats in Barmer and Jaisalmer districts as there is no education facility after middle level.

Education department official data reveals while 33 gram panchayats in Barmer and eight in Jaisalmer don’t have secondary schools, 48 gram panchayats in Barmer don’t have senior secondary schools.

The only option for students is to travel to nearby gram panchayats to attend school. However, distance and extreme weather make it an arduous task.

“Our panchayat doesn’t have educational facility after the middle school. We have informed the authorities about it but our pleas have been ignored, “said Prithvi Singh, sarpanch of Dharvi Khurd gram panchayat in Sheo constituency in Barmer. “In the absence of educational facility, students are forced to quit studies, especially girls. In rural areas, people don’t like sending their daughters to travel five or 10 kilometres every day to study,” he added.

Similarly, Bhom Singh Ballai, a resident of Ballai gram panchayat in

Barmer said that there is no secondary and senior secondary school in his panchayat.

An educational department official, on the condition of anonymity, said that government schools are facing staff crunch. To sort this, the state government had scrutinised schools with low enrollment rates and had later closed them or merged them with the nearest school.

According to information, this year the state government has

scrutinised 3,779 schools and has plans to close them. Of the 3,779 schools, 3,095 are primary schools (with less than 15 students) and 526 are upper primary and 158 government girls’ upper primary schools.

The previous Congress government had sanctioned schools in one-kilometre radius to ensure that not a single child remains deprived of an education. After failing to sort out staff crunch, the BJP government decided to close schools with low enrollments.

Congress district vice-president YD Joshi alleged that contrary to its claim of ensuring education for every child, the BJP government is closing schools. “Due to the government’s failure, students are being forced to quit studies,” said Joshi. He said that the government had promised a senior secondary school in every gram panchayat, but even after three and half years it had failed to deliver. “33 gram panchayats in Barmer don’t have senior secondary schools, one can imagine the situation in

the rest of the state,” he said.

Recently, BJP MP from Barmer Col. Sonaram Choudhary had raised the issue in the Parliament and demanded that senior secondary schools be opened in these deprived gram panchayats.

Countering Joshi’s claim, BJP leader Ramesh Singh Inda said that the education system is suffering due to poor planning by the previous Congress government. “Without ensuring resources, the previous Congress government had opened schools. The schools

were running without teachers,” he added.

Singh said that since coming to power, the BJP government has made efforts to improve the educational system. He said that according to its promise, the government has opened senior secondary schools in most panchayats and will soon open schools in those panchayats where there are none.