News
36% Karnataka schools operating with 3 or lesser classrooms
Government policy dictating that number of classrooms should be determined by number of teachers leads to 36% Karnataka schools to have 3 or lesser classrooms. Education dept realises financial implications of setting things right.
Something is not quite right in Karnataka government schools. A government policy in force which says that the number of classrooms in a school should be determined by the number of teachers rather than the number of students is resulting in nearly 27,000 schools or 36% out of the 75,489 including private ones having 3 or fewer classrooms, with 2,083 of them having just 1.
The provisional figures for 2015-16 released by the District Information System for Education (DISE) also reveal that 164 schools have no classrooms at all. And, even out of the 27,000 schools, more than 50% (14,064) have 2 classrooms, while only 10,592 have 3 classrooms.
Out of the 27,000 schools with 3 classrooms or lesser, Hassan has 1,738, followed by Tumakuru (1,659), Kalaburgi (1,172), Chitradurga (1,093), Bengaluru Rural (764) and Dharwad (317). Together they make up for 24% of the 27,000 schools or 6,743. Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Chitradurga, Dharwad, Kalaburgi, Hassan are among the worst faring among the 34 educational districts.
Clearly calling out as he sees it, VP Niranjanaradhya, fellow at the Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, said that the policy framework is to be blamed: "It is unfortunate that the government doesn't realise that there needs to be 1 classroom for each class and not 1 classroom for each teacher."
He added that the fact that the Right To Education (RTE) Act is reinforcing this policy has compounded the problem. "With even the RTE not seeking a change, there is status quo on the policy," he said.
Sources in the education department, agreed that the current policy was creating a problem but pointed out that any decision in this regard will have financial repercussions. "So, you must understand why there are so many discussions going on," one of them said.
Experts also revealed that a vicious circle is at work here that prevents any change in the system. While on one hand, the policy prescribes that the number of classrooms is based on the number of teachers, on the other hand, there is also a shortage of the number of teachers.
Out of a total of 75,489 schools, nearly 22,000 schools have less than 3 teachers; while 5,503 have only 1an 14,667 have just 2, indicating that several schools have a teacher-student population that is much lesser than the prescribed ratio of 1:35.
Whatever the policy says, the ground reality is exacerbating the problem. At a macro level it is an indication of the inability of the government to fill seats, with 45,000 unfilled seats in high schools alone.
Basavaraj Gurika, president, Karnataka Primary School Teachers Association says that in the last 3 years, nearly 32,000 primary school teachers have retired, adding to the shortage.
Image used for representational purpose only