Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday directed the education department to explore the possibility of merging government schools with low enrolments.

Presiding over a meeting of senior officers of the education department here, the CM said that this step would not only ensure adequate staff in schools but also pave the way for providing quality education to the students, a statement issued here said.

Expressing serious concern over the decline in the number of enrolments in government primary schools which was 1,30,466 in 2002-2003 compared to 49,295 in 2023-24, he said that there were 89 government primary schools with zero enrolment of students in the state.

He said that 701 primary schools had less than five students, out of which 287 schools were located within a radius of two kilometres of another school whereas an additional 109 schools had a strength of only five students.

Furthermore, there is zero enrolment in 10 government middle schools while 18 schools had only five students, he added.

The chief minister said that the state government was setting up Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding Schools in each assembly constituency in a phased manner which would ensure quality education and holistic development of the students.

Sukhu said his government had introduced many innovative initiatives to enhance the standards in the government institutions and that the English medium had also been implemented from first class in all the government schools.

State Education Minister Rohit Thakur and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ashish Butail were among those who attended the meeting.