Calcutta, April 16: The government today declared it would set up nursery schools across the state because of the rising demand for such institutions, but academics wondered how.

The state plans to introduce a nursery section in existing primary schools this year itself. The nursery — or pre-primary — schools will have their own infrastructure gradually, school education minister Partha De said.

Teachers said it was easier said than done because even existing primary schools were in disarray, lacking basic necessities like rooms and teachers.

Primary schools run classes from I to IV. The nursery schools will be for children aged three and four years.

De said guardians “need not worry” about the infrastructure. “We are aware that specially trained staff would be needed to teach three to five-year-old kids. We also know certain special devices and apparatus are required to run pre-primary schools. The government will provide all such facilities.”

However, what the source of his optimism was remained unexplained.

Some education department officials suggested the explanation of today’s announcement lay in next year’s Assembly polls.

They said parents were sending children to private nursery schools even in rural areas to give education an early start. “The government’s move may not have any significant impact in cities, but it could earn it goodwill in the rural areas,” an official said.