E-Paper
24 zero board schools to be closed in Pune district
The number of schools with zero students in Pune district is increasing, with 24 schools set to be closed by the end of 2023.
PUNE: The number of schools with ‘zero’ students on board being closed in Pune district is increasing. At the end of 2023, 24 such zero board schools are being closed in the district and they include both private aided and self-financing schools under the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP). The ZP education authorities have already given instructions to remove the names of zero board schools from the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) portal.
As per the information shared by the Pune ZP education department, three of the ZP schools namely, Sanswadi Karandi Khurd, Pishvi and Karanwadi schools in the Velhe taluka have zero students on board. While 13 self-financed schools have been closed and according to the information received from the Pune ZP, there are zero students on board in these schools. While six other private aided schools and one private unaided school have been closed.
A few days ago, the education department had put out a list of 16 schools with zero students on board. The number of zero board schools on this list has now increased to 24. Some reputed educational institutes, too, are on this list. Meanwhile, schools have been entrusted with the task of uploading the students’ Aadhar numbers on the U-DISE portal. However, it is also being seen that the schools are unable to upload the Aadhar numbers of these students as some of the parents are not cooperating.
“Although some schools in the district appear to have zero enrolment, these schools will be inspected. If due to some reason at the principal or institutional level, the work of student registration remains, it will be completed. However, if it is actually zero enrolment, a proposal to close the concerned school will be sent to the state government,” said Kamalakant Mhatre, secondary education officer of the Pune ZP.
