India, July 21 -- The Union ministry of education on Monday defended the Uttar Pradesh government's ongoing school pairing initiative amid criticism over the issue, saying the process is "carefully mapped" to ensure that students are relocated within a safe and feasible distance.

The initiative to merge schools having enrolment of less than 50 students with larger schools nearby is underway at a time when the state witnessed a 15.94% reduction in the number of government schools, from 1,63,114 in 2017-18 to 1,37,102 in 2023-24, according to education ministry's data.

In response to questions raised by Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Banda constituency of Uttar Pradesh, union minister of state (MoS) for education Jayant Chadhary said that t...