Patna: Bihar has decided to upgrade 2,400 middle schools into high schools to provide thousands of students the opportunity to complete higher education near their homes, officials said on Monday.

Sources in the Human Resource Development (HRD) department here said the state government plans to increase the number of high schools in the state this year.

At present, Bihar has 3,000 high schools compared to 80,000 primary schools and 22,000 middle schools. "The government will set up more high schools and upgrade hundreds of middle schools into high schools," an official said.

Bihar Principal Secretary (HRD) Anjani Kumar Singh has directed all district education officials to identify middle schools to upgrade them into high schools.

"Singh has asked that middle schools spread over 1.5 acres of land be identified for upgrading them into high schools," the official added said.

After having improved infrastructure for primary education, now the government's focus will be secondary education, Singh said.

"The government is aiming to provide a high school within a distance of five kilometers in the state," he said.

In Bihar, there are 85,000 panchayats and about 5,500 panchayats don't have a high school, forcing students to walk a distance of at least 10 km to attend high school. This has resulted in many children dropping out of school. IANS