NEW DELHI: The West Bengal School Education Department has closed 933 primary, upper-primary, and secondary schools that had recorded zero student enrolment for the past five to 20 years, School Education Minister Dipak Barman has said.
Earlier, the West Bengal government had issued an order to constitute a committee to explore alternative uses for the buildings and properties of the closed schools.
Dipak Barman confirmed the closure of the 933 schools with zero student enrolment.
In a video message, the School Education Minister said the initial plan was to hand over the land, grounds, and other assets of the closed schools to the government.
The decision to close more than 900 schools across the state comes amid concerns over the condition of school properties that have remained unused due to the absence of students.
The government has formed a committee to assess the land, buildings, and other properties of the schools.
“We have 933 schools in the state which had no enrolments of students in the past five to 20 years. Those schools have been shut. We have seen that the properties those schools have had are being damaged due to the lack of maintenance. A committee has been formed to assess the land, buildings, and other properties that those schools have,” the School Education Minister said.
“Primarily, we are planning to exchange those lands for international exchange. We will hand over the land to the government,” he added.
Barman clarified that no decision has been taken so far to hand over any school to a private entity under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
The School Education Department has suggested that such infrastructure could be considered for use as training centres, health centres, agricultural and rural development centres, community facilities, public-service facilities or other suitable government or public purposes, in consultation with the concerned departments or authorities, a PTI report said.