Hyderabad: Three days after deciding to shut down government schools with low enrollments, the Telangana state government on Tuesday did a U-turn and said that no schools would be shut down in the state.
The earlier decision to shut down government schools, most of them English medium ones, with low enrollment will now be kept in abeyance.
Attempting a cover up, education minister G. Jagdishwar Reddy said that the government’s policy was not to shut down any schools. However, the confusion brought to the fore the lack of clear communication and clear-cut understanding among the brass.
It is learnt that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao lashed out at the minister and top officials for the decision to shut down schools, forcing them to reverse it. Nearly 2,700 schools with low enrollment were to be shut down as part of the rationalisation process.
According to sources, the proposal for this came from school education commissioner M. Jagadeeshwar, to education secretary Vikas Raj. The latter and minister Jagdishwar Reddy signed on the proposal without discussing the implications.
Surprisingly, the proposals came to the education department not once but twice, as even the finance department intervened for some clarifications. It is learnt that Mr Jagdishwar Reddy later blamed the school education commissioner for bringing the issue up at this time and for the ensuing mess.
The decision received flak from all quarters as even TRS legislators flocked to the minister’s office to find out about the government’s plans.
TRS MLC Ramulu Naik said, “Lot of people in backward areas were asking about this issue as there are hardly any schools there. Now the government has clarified.” Seeking to downplay the issue, Mr Jagdishwar Reddy said the government would make sure that every child in Telangana received education. “There is no way that even one school will be closed. The government’s decision on rationalisation is not a big thing. We will change the decision. If we have given orders we can change them as well,” he said.
