Tripura Pradesh Congress chief Ashish Saha wrote a letter on Tuesday to Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, highlighting a critical issue regarding the closure of schools in the rural areas of Tripura.
He noted, the state government’s decision to close 160 schools in West Tripura district and 170 schools in North Tripura district, under the pretext of rationalizing student numbers, has sparked significant concern among the rural populace.
According to Ashish Saha, this decision will severely affect poor children in the rural regions, depriving them of their “right to education.”
The schools are set to be merged with nearby higher secondary schools, a move he claimed will disrupt the education of students in both plains and hills of the affected districts.
He criticized the state government’s approach, accusing it of systematically undermining the education system, leading to its current state of near collapse. The recent poor performance in the Vidya Jyoti examination has laid bare the challenges facing education in Tripura, he added.
Saha recalled the introduction of the “Right to Education Act” in 2009, which made education a fundamental right for all children aged 6 to 14.
However, he argued that the “New Education Policy 2020” has opened the door to the commercialization of education, favoring the rich and marginalizing the poor.
The Congress leader warned that the current merger plan will likely exacerbate the dropout issue, especially in areas with poor transportation infrastructure, making it difficult for students to commute to the newly designated schools.
He urged the Chief Minister to reconsider the decision, taking into account the economic conditions of rural and hilly areas.
(Tripura, Tripura News)
