The Karnataka government’s decision to close down schools with less than five students comes at a time when the country has just begun implementing the RTE Act that promises every single child eight years of free and compulsory education. Photo shows children enjoying playtime at a school in Bellary. Photo: K. Murali Kumar
Despite having good infrastructure, the Government Primary School of Chikkaguntanur (Chitradurga district), which was started before Independence, has no more than four students. Many parents say they were willing to re-admit their children to the school if a good teacher is appointed. Photo: Special Arrangement
Parents blame the teachers’ attitude for sending their wards to private schools like the one in the photo, which is run in a tin shed in Bidar taluk instead of government schools. Photo: Gopichand. T
A view of a private school in Bidar. “We shifted our children from a government school to a private school as the teachers there were indifferent to their work. Most (teachers) have turned moneylenders and they don't take their jobs seriously,” says Kanteppa Gumme, a tailor in Meeragunj village in Bidar taluk. Photo: Gopichand. T
Bharati Walmiki teaching students at the single-teacher school at Saibanakoppa in Dharwad district. For the last four years, Bharati has taught at the school, which was started in 2004-05 after much lobbying by the village elders. Photo: Girish Pattanashetti
The move to close down the Saibanakoppa Government Lower Primary School in Dharwad district has led to anxiety among the residents. As many as 590 primary and 27 higher primary schools in Karnataka have less than five children this year. Photo: Girish Pattanashetti
Nikhil D’Souza, Nitin, Trupti and Sahana, the only students of the Zilla Panchayat Lower Primary School at Jarpadav Mukadappu in Kadandale village locate their school on the map. The school had six students last year and seven in 2009-10, five in 2008-09 and 23 in 2007. Next year, the fifth student (from the anganwadi) will join the school. Photo: R. Eswarraj
The Government Lower Primary School with only six children at Chattanahalli, about 35 km from Channarayapatna, will be one among the first schools in the State to be closed, ironically, on Children's Day. (A student was absent when this photo was clicked). Photo: Prakash Hassan
At Chattanahalli school, there is only one classroom, in which students from I to V std sit on separate benches. Whenever the teacher goes on leave, another teacher from Higher Primary School in Anathi is asked to work there. Sujatha, a cook, prepares and serves midday meal. Here the reasons for a decline in admissions is the result of too many government schools in one area, alongside a declining population in villages. Photo: Prakash Hassan