Answer

Introduction

India’s school education has transitioned from the enrolment-led success of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to a quality-centric mandate. While the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is nearing 100% at the elementary level, the challenge now lies in achieving “scale and integration.” Moving beyond mere presence, the NEP 2020 emphasizes consolidating fragmented resources to ensure that every student, regardless of location, receives high-quality, specialized education through a “whole-school” approach.

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Examining Fragmented School Infrastructure

The proliferation of small, isolated schools has led to severe resource thinness, undermining the ability to deliver quality education.

• Inefficient Resource Allocation: Over 78% of primary schools have three or fewer teachers, leading to chronic multi-grade teaching where one teacher manages multiple classes simultaneously.
• Sub-optimal Facilities: Small schools often lack specialized labs, libraries, and separate toilets, which are difficult to maintain for a handful of students. 
• Administrative Overload: In tiny schools, the absence of a dedicated Principal forces teachers to spend disproportionate time on non-academic administrative tasks like Mid-Day Meal data entry.
• Isolation of Teachers: Fragmented schools offer no platform for peer-learning or professional collaboration among teachers, leading to pedagogical stagnation.
• High Unit Costs: Dispersed infrastructure leads to higher per-pupil expenditure with diminishing returns on learning quality due to the lack of “economies of scale.”

Advancing Equity through Composite and Consolidated Schools

Consolidation involves merging small, unviable schools into larger, well-resourced “School Complexes” to bridge the opportunity gap.

• Specialized Human Capital: Larger school complexes can afford specialized teachers for art, music, and physical education, which are missing in small schools.
  Eg: Rajasthan’s Adarsh (Model) Schools increased the proportion of children studying in schools with a dedicated Principal by 10%.
• Gender and Disability Inclusion: Consolidated schools with better safety (boundary walls) and functional girl-toilets help reduce dropout rates among adolescent girls.
  Eg: School consolidation in Rajasthan led to a 2% increase in girls’ enrolment due to perceived better quality and safety.
• Social Integration: Bringing children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds into a single “composite” campus fosters empathy and reduces social segregation.
• Transportation as an Equalizer: Integrated schools often provide transport, ensuring that distance does not become a barrier for the most marginalized.
  Eg: Jharkhand’s SATH Project in Khunti merged seven schools and introduced a transportation system to ensure continued access for all students.
• Focus on SEDGs: NEP 2020 envisages Special Education Zones (SEZs) where consolidated schools act as hubs of excellence for Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups.

Advancing Learning Outcomes through Scale

Scale enables the integration of modern pedagogical tools that are unsustainable in fragmented setups.

• Equipped Learning Spaces: Larger schools facilitate the creation of Smart Classrooms and Science Labs, essential for competency-based learning under NEP.
• Peer Learning Environment: A larger student cohort creates a competitive and collaborative peer group, which is crucial for social and cognitive development.
• ICT and Vocational Integration: Consolidation allows for the meaningful integration of vocational training from Class 6, as shared workshops become viable.
  Eg: Madhya Pradesh’s merger of 19,000 schools reduced multi-grade teaching by 14 percentage points, directly boosting instructional time.
• Better Monitoring and Accountability: With a full-time Principal and School Management Committees (SMCs), consolidated schools see lower teacher absenteeism and better academic supervision.
• Holistic Assessment: Integrated schools can implement PARAKH-style formative assessments more effectively due to the presence of trained subject-matter experts.

Conclusion

As India moves toward the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, the “neighborhood school” concept must evolve from “proximity-only” to “proximity-plus-quality.” While consolidation poses challenges of distance, strategic planning as seen in the SATH project proves that bigger schools lead to better resource optimization. By 2035, with nearly 8 crore more students in secondary education, composite schools will be the only way to provide multiple academic and vocational pathways equitably.

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