Education sector has been hit: Janamunetam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The trend whereby more and more schools are falling under the uneconomical status would prove a disaster to the education sector in the state, Janamunetam which is the state-wing of the National Alliance for fundamental rights to education, has said in a press statement here.According to the organisation, the government has marked  4,280 schools as uneconomical in the year 2010-11. This is 318 more in comparison to the figures during the year 2009-2010. 80 percent of the schools which are in the list are primary schools, which means 50 percent of primary schools in the state are running on loss. The trend would soon be spotted in upper primary and high schools as well, in the coming years, the press note said. The process is under way to find out the schools which are financially not viable, for the year 2011-12.According to the figures put forward by the organisation, 30 percent of students in the uneconomical schools are tribal children. In all the 4,280 schools, there are 27,7935 students altogether. It also points out that 35 percent of schools in the coastal sector are running on loss.Ajayakumar V B of Janamunnetam said that their studies have shown that the process of shutting down uneconomical schools will only affect the marginalised children, which is   why the government should intervene in the situation.While there are a total of 269 uneconomical schools in Thiruvananthapuram, it is 221 in Kollam, 328 in Alappuzha and 181 in Idukki. The highest numbers are in Kannur, 637 schools. Pathanamthitta-461, Kottayam-459, Ernakulam-426 and Kozhikode 444 also record more uneconomical schools.