SANCOALE: The gradual shutdown of Marathi and Konkani medium schools in Mormugao taluka has brought to the fore the grim fact that these schools are slowly losing their sheen vis-à-vis English medium schools.
Two years ago, a Konkani-medium government primary school (GPS) at Bogmalo had to shut down; last year a Kannada medium school was shutdown at Gandhinagar; and this year this year a Marathi medium Government Primary school at Sindolim in Sancoale was shut down due to low enrolment of students.
The Bogmalo school had to be shut down as no one sent children for admission; however, the Gandhinagar and Sindolim schools were shut down against the wishes of parents few parents.
Herald has learnt that the 45-year-old Sindolim school was recently taken up for repairs, but citing low enrolment, Assistant District Education Inspector (ADEI) closed down the school from the current academic year, leaving few local parents upset.
“Five students were studying in the school including my son who was studying in third standard. We the parents were kept in dark about the closure of the school; we had even purchased all books and stitched uniform, but were shocked to hear that the school has been shut down due to low enrolment,” said Mahima Naik, a parent and a resident of Sindolim.
Mahima has now taken admission for her son in Shantadurga School which three kilometers away from her residence.
Mahima and other parents say that they made all efforts to keep the Sindolim school running, but failed.
“We never wanted that this school shut down. We approached ADEI Vasco requesting him to give us some time so that we could convince other parents to send their kids to the Sindolim school. To our luck many parents even got convinced, but ADEI did not pay any heed to our request and closed down school, leaving us and our children’s to face undue hardships,” Mahima said.
Sunita Naik, another parent, claimed that she along with other parents were very happy with the kind of education provided in Sindolim school.
“Since the teacher here was providing good education to students, I had enrolled both my children in this school, but after closure of the school, I had to run to seek admission for my children in a neighbouring school. We still demand that the state education department should find a way to reopen this school,” she demanded.
Interestingly, few parents claimed that the reason behind low enrolment at the Sindolim school was non-availability of school bus facility.
According to ADEI office, the Sindolim school was closed down due to low enrolment.
They said that as per new circular issued by the education department if any school has less than 10 students, then, students should be amalgamated with nearby government school or should close down the school. Since the Sindolim school had less than 10 students, as per the directions of higher officials it was closed down.
