While several students threw a volley of questions to Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait at an interaction session here on Friday, a poignant point raised by a high school student from Shivamogga triggered a heated debate.
Stating that she had a solution to improve the quality of education in government schools, Ramya N., student of the government high school at Pillangiri in Shivamogga district, asked the Minister to make it compulsory for government officers and elected representatives to send their children to government schools.
She was speaking during the children’s interaction session organised by the Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and Unicef.
In a lighter vein, Mr. Sait said he had no problem bringing this rule as his children had completed their schooling. Later, he, however, said, “It is difficult for us to bring this rule as courts have repeatedly said the medium of instruction and choice of school for the child should be left to parents.”
Adding to that, Surabhi N., a student of Oxford English School in Bengaluru Rural, said politicians such as Mr. Sait should set a benchmark and stop attending lavish programmes so that the money could instead be used to develop government schools.
Kripa Alva, chairperson of the commission, said with the efforts of the commission, alumni associations were established in 95% of the government schools to improve the infrastructure in these schools.
When a student asked Mr. Sait to urge the government to open two Indira Canteens near her PU college, which has a student strength of 750, he said colleges having a student strength of more than 500 would get canteens where food would be served at subsidised rates. The Minister also said sanitary napkin vending machines would be introduced in all girls PU colleges.
There was also a long discussion on the use of mobile phones in schools by teachers.
A student asked Mr. Sait to introduce eggs or a fruit with midday meals. “Everything we do now is being looked closely from the caste and political lens, so we are not taking any decision in this regard now,” he said.
Students of Morarji Desai Residential Schools said their hostels lacked beds and mattresses. They also complained that they had not received notebooks and uniforms. An official with the Social Welfare Department said this would be done shortly.
