Fate of students in limbo after merger of schools

Many children in our area dropped out of the school due to the distance NURAM, A student of New Sanjay Nagar Government Primary School, Jaipur

- Senjuti Sengupta and Dinesh Bothra

JAIPUR/JODHPUR: "It is unfortunate that I cannot go to the new school building near my house any more and have to walk for 2 kilometres every morning. I become so tired that I feel sleepy in school," said eight-year-old Nuram who was a student of New Sanjay Nagar Government Primary School, Jaipur, which was merged with the Rajeev Nagar Higher Secondary School by the education department on January 18.

"Many children in our area dropped out of the school due to the distance. But, my parents got me admitted to the school hoping that the construction work of the new building will be finished soon and I will not have to travel so far daily," Nuram said while slowing down her pace due to exhaustion.

Nuram's school has a total 160 students from the city's Bhatta Basti slum area. In 2018, the building of their school had suddenly collapsed following a heavy monsoon, pushing the local administration to temporarily shift them to the secondary school in Rajeev Nagar.

"Meanwhile, the then MLA Mahesh Joshi contributed about ₹45 lakh from his fund to renovate the building, so that the local students don't have to go to a different school. The building's construction work was finished last December and it was all set to be inaugurated this month. But now the school no longer exists after the merger," said Nuram's teacher Altaf Muhammed.

Nuram and Altaf's school was listed among the 449 institutions that were merged by the Rajasthan education department earlier this month considering their poor infrastructure, and low enrolment, a move that has raised eyebrows, as many of them were later found to have a good enrolment number, newly constructed buildings, while some of them are also exclusively for girls or specially abled children.