Galudih/Jamshedpur: A large protest was held in Baharagora, East Singhbhum, on Saturday against the merger of schools, though government babus are downplaying the incident.

Following a Niti Aayog directive, the state government identified 3,528 schools for 'reorganisation' (read closure, merger or degradation). Officials of East Singhbhum district education department claimed 398 schools in the district had been approved for the same but avoided saying how many schools were closed.

In Baharagora, where 44 schools have been merged, 150 people, including parents and JMM and Congress supporters, protested on Saturday.

They also submitted a memo at the block office addressed to governor Droupadi Murmu and President Ram Nath Kovind.

Baharagora MLA Kunal Sarangi said he would file a PIL at Jharkhand High Court against the school merger.

"Niti Aayog is not a publicly elected body and it is not mandatory for the states to follow what it says. Unlike Odisha and Bengal, I don't know why the state government is hell bent upon enforcing this decision. Ideally, the government should have held a special Assembly session and sought approval of all parties," said Sarangi.

Asked, Bankey Bihari Singh, DSE, East Singhbhum, said they knew there would be protests when the merger was implemented.

"We have received a number of applications against the merger and are continuously reviewing them. In case there is a need we will definitely do something about it," he said.

However, deputy development commissioner (DDC) East Singhbhum B. Maheshwari called up The Telegraph on Friday to say children in Galudih, Ghatshila, had no problems, counteracting the April 25 report that said parents preferred their children stay uneducated rather than risk their lives to cross NH-33 and reach their new school (Parents seethe at longer road to school).

DDC Maheshwari claimed the children could use the underpass and not the highway to reach the new school.

When this reporter went to Galudih on Saturday, the underpass was there. But what the DDC did not say was that to reach the underpass, children had to cross two service lanes with heavy traffic because a flyover was under construction on the NH-33.

Mothers like Padmavati Gope and Sombari Devi said they were not sending their children to the new school. A few had enrolled their children in other schools in Dalbhumgarh and Jamshedpur and the nearby Urdu Primary School.

Sombari, who also did not send her Class II son Jagdish to his new school Adarsh Madhya Vidyalaya, Mahulia, across the highway, said, "If something happens to our children, will the government replace them?"

"In Galudih, three schools Prathamik Vidyalaya, Kalimati; Balika Prathamik Vidyalaya, Mahulia; and Prathamik Vidyalaya, Pat Mahulia have been merged with Adarsh Madhya Vidyalaya. But no children from Prathamik Vidyalaya, Kalimati, joined their new school because no parent wants to risk their child's life," Padmavati said.

Asked why, she said children would graze goats rather than risk their lives to go to school.

The scenario for students of the merged Balika Prathamik Vidyalaya, Mahulia, some 400 metres from Kalimati, is the same. Parents alleged that BEO (block education officer) Baidyanath Pradhan had taken students to the new school on Friday without informing parents to paint a rosy picture.

Teachers of merged schools joined Adarsh Madhya Vidyalaya and claimed students would join from May 2. Parents denied the claim.

Responded DSE Singh, "As far as the NH issue in Galudih is concerned, one the flyover is constructed, it will be smooth for the children."