LUCKNOW, Aug. 1 -- In an apparent move to quell the ongoing opposition over school merger by political parties, teachers, students and parents, the Uttar Pradesh government has slightly softened its stand as basic education minister Sandeep Singh on Thursday clarified that government primary schools located more than one kilometre away from students' homes and those having 50 or more enrolled students will not be merged. The move comes in the wake of concerns raised in some districts claiming that school mergers had forced children to travel long distances, making education less accessible. Corrective actions are now being taken on the basis of complaints received. In fact, it will be ensured that all those schools operate as before at the same places like they were functioning before school pairing was introduced. State basic education minister (independent charge) Sandeep Singh made this announcement at a press conference at Lok Bhavan. "The complaints received from some districts have been taken seriously and where necessary, orders have been given to run the schools as before. The distance of any primary school to be paired will not be more than one kilometre," he said. "Pairing does not mean closure of any school nor any teaching or non- teaching post is being reduced or abolished," the minister said. He further said the process of both pairing and unpairing of government primary and upper primary schools will be completed within a week and thereafter their number will be shared with the press. Singh said while pairing, full care has been taken to ensure that children's access to the school is simple, easy and safe. "Schools whose geographical location, such as rivers, railway crossings or highways, could have hindered access, have not been included in this process. In case of any kind of discrepancy, immediate solution is being ensured," he added. "We have not permanently paired any school. If the number of students increases, arrangements will be made to run it again in the old building. UDISE code will remain the same. It is also our endeavour that no school should remain vacant till August 15. Pre-primary and Bal Vatika should be operated in all schools," the minister said. The minister said that Uttar Pradesh is not the only state which introduced pairing of schools. In 2014, Rajasthan paired about 20,000 schools, in 2018, Madhya Pradesh paired 26,000 and 16,000 schools in phased manner, in 2018-19, Odisha government also paired a number of schools, he added. Singh said: "Pairing is a wonderful initiative towards connecting children with better learning environments and resources." Through pairing, availability of teachers for each class can be ensured. Teacher-student ratio will be better and teachers will get an opportunity to use the latest teaching techniques. Highlighting the benefits of pairing, he said schools with higher enrolment will get facilities like smart class, ICT lab, additional rooms, composite grant and sports material on priority basis. The role of teachers and cooks will remain the same in this process. No post is being abolished. Rather, under this scheme, it is being ensured that where up to 50 students are enrolled, three teachers will be compulsorily deployed. The minister said the previous government had brought the education system on a stretcher. "But our government has made basic improvements in the field of education in the past years. So far, more than 1.26 lakh teachers have been appointed. Under Operation Kayakalp, 96% of council schools have been equipped with basic facilities. These reforms have also been accepted by the NITI Aayog as an exemplary model," Singh said. Reacting to the basic education minister Sandeep Singh's announcement, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said: "Withdrawing the decision on school merger is a major victory for 'PDA Pathshala' movement. The right to education is inviolable and will remain so. This is a moral defeat for the education-opposing BJP."...