UP's pairing scheme is making access to education more difficult

In February 2025 this year, the central government told the Lok Sabha that in the last ten years, about 89 thousand government schools have been closed across the country, out of which more than 25 thousand are in Uttar Pradesh alone. While these figures raised serious questions on the primary education system of the country, the pairing scheme of Uttar Pradesh has further intensified this debate.

The state government claims that this scheme has been brought for better management and use of resources, but its other aspect is that it has created a threat of closure of about 5000 primary schools in the state. These schools are being merged with other schools, especially those where the number of students is less than 50. According to the June 16 order issued by Additional Chief Secretary of Basic Education Department Deepak Kumar, merging schools with less number of students will lead to efficient use of resources and improvement in the quality of teaching, but the ground reality says something else.

For poor and differently-abled parents living in villages, sending their children to schools two-three kilometres away is becoming an impossible task. After the merger of Saraiya Primary School in Lucknow's Mal block, only 3 students reached the new school in the first week, while the old school had more than 20 students. These figures show that the merger is leading to a sharp decline in student attendance. According to the Right to Education Act, it is mandatory for children aged 6-14 to have a school within 1 kilometre, but the pairing scheme seems to ignore this guideline. According to the Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, the government has not made any clear policy regarding transfer of teachers, salary payment and attendance of children. Many teachers say that when their school shifted to another place in 2015, very few children reached their new schools.

Teachers say that the scheme is chaotic. Teachers are suffering, attendance is falling, and school administration is confused. The Samajwadi Party and other opposition parties have termed the pairing scheme as an attack on the future of poor and rural children. On the other hand, the BJP government is presenting this scheme as an education reform. The party claims that the government is committed to providing education to every child. No school will be merged without the consent of the parents, although the Allahabad High Court has rejected the petition challenging the pairing scheme, but there is opposition to it at the ground level. The court says that the government's move is in the interest of children and it is in the direction of proper use of resources. Still, the reality is that due to increasing distance of schools, students are dropping out of school, security concerns are increasing and social discontent is growing.

Overall, according to the government's arguments, this scheme has been brought for quality education and optimal use of resources, but at the practical level this scheme is making access to education more difficult. In rural environments, schools are not just centers of education, but are also a means of social security and awareness. Their merger is affecting the education of children as well as their safety, attendance and psychological state. The government should give priority to ground reality, local needs and community views before taking any step towards reform. Otherwise it will remain a process of contraction and not improvement.