The Tripura government has decided to close down as many as 20 schools in the state owing to the reduced number of students.
The state cabinet at a meeting on Friday, decided to shut down the schools with low enrolment.
The cabinet further decided that 137 government schools where the number of students is up to 10 will also be closed subsequently.
Education minister Ratan Lal Nath said that the previous government had set up about 1,000 schools where the strength of students is maximum 25.
“The infrastructure was created without considering the need and crores of rupees were spent. But now, these schools have been abandoned and maintenance is a big problem,” TOI quoted minister Nath as saying.
The state government has decided to hand over 20 such schools to Indian Tribal Care Trust (ITCT) working under ISKON so that it can run these educational institutions with modern facilities for attracting students and ensuring quality education.
Nath said that an MoU would be signed between the education department and the trust to operationalise the plan.
At present, the state has 4,398 government and government-aided schools out of which 13 have been closed due to nonavailability of students.