Denotification of Schools: Congress party & Government on different pages in Himachal
The Congress State Unit Chief and Lok Sabha member of Parliament Pratibha Singh and five months old Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government seemed to be on different pages regarding the issue of denotification of the school opened by the former BJP government of Mr. Jai Ram Thakur.
In a notification issued here today a day after the government decided to close down or denotified 90 schools opened by the previous BJP government, Pratibha Singh urged her own govt to reconsider the decision on the pro and cons as she was apprised by her constituent of tribal areas that closing down of the school may deprive thinly populated areas after closing down schools
Affixed over the imprudence of the newly constituted govt which seemed to not took the party across the board party leaders said in a press release on Sunday that she urged the state government not to de-notify any school opened in tribal areas.
” According to the geographical conditions of the tribal areas, the Virbhadra Singh government of the former Congress has opened many schools in these areas for the convenience of the people, especially the small children. The number of children may be less here, they should not be closed due to the lack of children, because this area is such that it gets hectic due to snowfall. ” Ms. Singh emphasized putting the party govt in the dock.
It is worthwhile to mention that Mandi Parliamentary is the second biggest geographical area after Jaisalmer Lok Sabha of Rajasthan in the country which includes all tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh including Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi and Bharmour of Chamba district.
Ms. Singh a Member of Parliament from a tribal area has flagged the issue as there are many such areas of Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur, Pangi of Chamba, and Bharmour where due to heavy snowfall people are completely cut off from road and communication links, may affect the education of young children.
A statement quoting MP said that she has just returned from a tour of Lahaul Spiti and the people of the region have urged her not to close any school opened.
Following the concerned above party line and supporting the state unit of the opposition BJP, also joined the voice pressing own state government not to close or de-notify any school in the public interest in accordance with the sentiments of the people in these areas.
It is worthwhile to mention here that most of the middle, High, and senior secondary schools denotified by the Government fall in Mandi Paralimentary including Mandi district and Kullu beside a few tribal areas including Chamba, Kinnuar, and Lahaul Spiti district.
The state government has decided to denotify 36 Senior Secondary schools, 34 High schools, and 20 Middle Schools in a notification issued on Saturday.
Notification issued on the approval of the Governor said that in view of administrative reasons schools have low students strength of below 15 for Govt Middle Senols, 20 for High Schools, and 25 Senior Secondary Schools as of 31.03.2023 for winter closing Schools and 5.04.2023 for summer closing Schools which were upgraded after April 01, 2022 are denotified in the larger public interest
