Overview
- The UP government’s June 16 order mandates merging primary and upper primary schools with fewer than 50 students, a policy officials say will optimise resources across about 140,000 institutions.
- On July 3, Congress, AAP, SP, BSP and AJP staged coordinated protests demanding the policy’s rollback, warning longer travel distances could force poor and girl students out of school.
- Fifty-one students from Sitapur filed a writ petition the same day, arguing the pairing violates Article 21A and the Right to Education Act’s requirement for schools within one kilometre of communities.
- A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court paused hearings until Friday after ordering the government to present any survey conducted before issuing the merger order and cautioned it with a Rs 1 lakh fine for incomplete evidence.
- State officials maintain the exercise is a “pairing” aimed at better utilisation of classrooms and teachers, not school closures, citing low enrolments and a freeze on teacher recruitment.