News
Close to 1300 schools shut down in 2 years, government yet to react
Kannada medium primary government schools are looking at a bleak future as more and more under privileged children flock to English medium private schools under the RTE quota
Almost 657 Kannada medium primary government schools are looking at a possibility of shutting down; the main reason being abysmally poor student strength (between 0 and 5). Last year almost 654 schools were shut down due to the same reason. Most experts claim it is the parents' growing preference of sending their wards to private schools or government's apathy or a combination of both that so many schools in the state are staring at a bleak future.
The problem of low student enrolment and strength is visible across the state of Karnataka with over 1,000 schools with students' strength between 5 and 10, and 15,000 schools with 0 and 30. This means as the academic year progresses, more schools are likely to come under the 0-5 category. Out of 44,110 primary schools, only 337 are fairly packed with 500 and above students.
A senior official from the primary and education department said that parents were always preferred private schools but with the introduction of the Right to Education (RTE) quota, parents are now able to fulfil their wish of sending their ward to an English medium private school.
The closing down of schools has resulted in the shunting of 15,000 teachers to other schools last year. This trend can have worrisome repercussions on the recruitment of new teachers, said a source in the department.
It is a nod to the success of the RTE initiative that every year, around 1,00,000 students from economically poor sections join private schools under RTE quota.
VP Niranjan Aradhya, fellow at the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, said that introduction of RTE alone cannot be blamed for decreasing strength in government primary schools. "The department should teach English effectively. The competency level of English teachers must be good. By correcting these mistakes, the department can check the decline of government schools," he said
Echoing the same view, D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Government Recognized English Medium Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said: "Even before RTE was implemented in 2012, the admission to government private schools had been dipping by around 10 to 20%. Lack of quality teaching has to be blamed. This could be the reason why many government school teachers are also sending their children to private schools."