Bizarre! Ladakh opens just a single new govt school in 5 years

Quality education at the people’s doorsteps in Ladakh, having sparsely-located population and tough terrains, appears to have remained the least priority of the government as only one new government school has been opened in the Union Territory during the last five years.

The revelation may sound bizarre as at-least 374 habitations of the region (which comes around 34 percent) are still without access to upper primary schools while 89 villages (37.08 percent) don’t have access to secondary schools.

Responding to a question of BJP Lok Sabha member from Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal in the Parliament, Union Minister of State (MoS) in Education Annpurna Devi disclosed that a new school was opened in Ladakh Union Territory during the financial year 2018-19 and thereafter no initaitive was taken to open a new school in the region.

During the last five years (from 2018-19 to 2022-23), a total of 13 schools were upgraded from Middle School to High School, while the number of schools upgraded from High School to Higher Secondary School was just six,” the Union Minister disclosed.

Official sources said that there were more than 900 government schools in Ladakh, out of which 832 schools have classrooms and 591 have playgrounds.

“The Project Approval Board (PAB) has approved the proposal of Rs 2.40 crore for rejuvenation of basic infrastructure in government schools in the UT of Ladakh”, the Minister said.

According to the PAB meeting held last year, there were 129 villages (53.75%) of Ladakh having no access to Higher Secondary schools as per norm. “At elementary level, there are 14 habitations (1.42%) without access to primary schools. Ladakh has scattered schools and hamlets.

Accordingly, School Mapping Exercises have been conducted and moreover, an effective community based mapping and survey is proposed to be carried out soon,” the UT administration in its Action Taken Report.

The PAB had advised the UT of Ladakh for conducting a fresh mapping exercise every hamlet-wise as considered more vulnerable to school access. “The UT was also asked to
complete remaining coordinates of GIS so as to ensure a realistic picture on the access less habitations,” it said, adding “The dropout rate of children at elementary level was 4.3 percent for boys and 1.7 for girls while the dropout rate at secondary level was 12.3 for boys and 9.9 for girls which was an area of concem.

The UT is advised to formulate an effective and holistic strategy to improve retention rate”.