Why in news?
Recently in Tamil Nadu’s budget (2023-24) the Tamil Nadu government announced that the schools run by different departments will be merged with the School Education (SE) department.
What are the schools being merged?
- The schools run by the following department will be merged with school education department of Tamil Nadu
- Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare (ADTW)
- Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities Welfare (BCW)
- Welfare of the Differently-abled Persons (WPD)
- Forest department
- Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) departments
- These departments together account for 1,834 schools in Tamil Nadu at which roughly 1.6 lakh students study.
What are the reasons for merger?
- To achieve the goal of social justice
- To improve the quality of schools
- To ensure quality education for all
- To improve student- teacher ratio
- To remove cate names in government schools
- To address the grievances of the special schools
- To bring unity among the students
What are the various issues of the merger of the schools?
- Inadequate consultations – Lack of the consultation with the stake holders in school education .
- Prolonged indifference – Filling of vacancies, ensuring transparent procedures for promotions and transfers should be addressed first before the merger.
- Discrimination – Merging the schools especially in the Southern districts may increase discrimination towards scheduled castes.
- Reduced funding – The merger might result in reduced funding for special schools.
- Non- addressal of major issues -Without addressing the prolonged negligence and widespread irregularities, the merger would only result in them being denied the special focus they deserve.
References
- The Hindu │ Merging TN Government School
- The Hindu │ Data Of TN Schools
