Mahatme High School shuts shop

l School fails to enrol even a single student for current academic year l School building in bad shape l Staff accommodated in other schools l Management wants land at Cujira Education Complex to restart

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: One of the capital city’s oldest schools -- the Institute of Instruction -- better known as Mahatme High School, has shut down operation citing low enrolment and infrastructure limitations.

The school had ceased instructions for classes V, VI and VII in the academic year 2013-14, while from the ongoing academic year it has shut down classes VIII, IX and X, thus ending a long educational era. 

Mahatme High School was founded in 1933 and switched from Portuguese medium to English in 1962.

For the academic year 2013-14, only 29 students were studying in classes VIII to X but for the current year, the school failed to enrol even a single student thus forcing the management to close down the school. The Staff of the school has been accommodated in other schools.

Management of the school along with ex-students have requested the State government to allot them land at Cujira Education Complex which would help them to once again restart this age-old Institute. 

Professor Vinayak Mahatme had founded this school in 1933 with an aim to educate Goans during the Portuguese era. Mahatme School has been a reason behind success of many well-known personalities. 

The trustee of the Institute Vallabh Prabhu said that the institute in 2006 had applied for a plot at Cujira Education Complex, but their application was not considered by the then education minister. “Many parents were interested to send their children to Mahatme school, but could not, as the school building was in bad state and unsafe,” he said adding, ‘management is interested to restart the school but they need a plot from the government’.

Government through Goa Education Development Corporation had in 2013 launched an infrastructure loan-cum-grant scheme for institutions, wherein primary schools are eligible for a loan of Rs 50 lakh and secondary schools, Rs 1 crore. However, the Mahatme institution failed to get benefit under the scheme due to low enrollment.

Many parents were interested to send their children to Mahatme school, but could not, as the school building was in bad state and unsafe… the management is interested to restart the school but they need a plot from the government

— Trustee of the Institute Vallabh Prabhu