No government school will be closed due to low enrolment: Minister Rajmohan

Minister for School Education, Tamil Development, Information and Publicity, Rajmohan, addresses the Achievers Appreciation Day at VIT Vellore on Thursday. G.Viswanathan, founder & chancellor, VIT, is also seen.

Minister for School Education Rajmohan on Thursday said that the State government will not shut down even a single government school on the basis of low enrollment of students.

In his inaugural address at the felicitation ceremony, organised by VIT Vellore, for headmasters of government and government-aided schools in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts that secured 100 per cent pass results in Board examinations for 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26, Mr. Rajmohan said that since the new government formed six months ago, no government school has been closed, citing low enrollment. “New teaching methods such as teaching mathematics through stories and improvements in curriculum have been introduced to boost enrolment in government schools,” he said.

G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor, VIT, highlighted the need to set up a committee to study the impact of the Right to Education Act’s policy of ensuring pass results on overall educational quality and to examine whether the policy need to be reviewed. It comes in the backdrop of closure of around 94,000 government schools as against 51,000 private schools that were opened in the country in the past decade. “In Tamil Nadu, 246 government schools had been shut during the same period. At present, around 1,200 schools have zero enrolment,” he said.

Sankar Viswanathan and Sekar Viswanathan, vice presidents, VIT, and Premalatha, District Educational Officer (Vellore), were among others present on the occasion.