BENGALURU: The education department is worried. Last year, 534 government schools locked up rooms meant for class 1 because there were no admissions. In 9,503 schools, there were less than 20 students in classes 1 to 7. The situation this year could be worse, though the statistics are yet to be collated.Officials are coming round to the view that if this trend continues, then the government may have to shut down its schools. In fact, 146 schools have been closed or merged in the past year, taking down the number of schools to 48,909 in 2014-15.The reasons are not far to seek: Urbanization, the state's mother-tongue policy, and implementation of the RTE Act. "Most parents prefer living in urban areas and want their children to study in English-medium schools. Besides, government schools have a poor image," Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) officials admitted.Data with the department of public instruction (DPI) confirms the steady decrease in government school admissions. This is corroborated by the SSA numbers showing an uptick in enrolments in aided and unaided private schools. In 2013-14, the number of zero admission schools stood at 517; in 2012-13, it was 508."Parents prefer private schools. They turn to government schools if they fail to get an RTE seat in a private school, despite schemes for children, including the midday meal," DPI director (primary education) K Anand said. A concerned department is now floating many ideas, one of which is to change RTE rules. "Some states first ensure children are admitted to government schools. Only when this is not possible, the state sets aside seats in private schools under the RTE Act. We should, perhaps, implement something like this here," an official said.With over 12 years of working with state-run schools in rural areas, ES Ramamurthy of Shikshana Trust believes the government is perpetuating the myth that private schools are better than government ones, especially through the RTE scheme. "By saying 25% is reserved for you in private schools, they are telling parents this is what you should aspire for and we will help you get it," he said."Instead, the government should work to improve the image of their schools. We need to bring the quality of education on par with that in Finland and Belgium, where the concept of private schools does not exist for a child under 15 years. To do so, we need to decentralize schools and set correct goals. Officials in Vidhana Soudha set goals for teachers - they decide what chapter should be taught on what day and when the syllabus should be completed," Ramamurthy said.Educationists pointed out that the teachers' goal is to complete the syllabus, not to ensure the child acquires a certain level of understanding, can comprehend concepts or is able to speak a language fluently. "Set different goals for teachers and ensure the community is closely involved in what is happening in the school. Only then teachers are held accountable, and everyone participates in ensuring the child's growth. That is the way forward for improving standards in government schools," he said.