The seven years of implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act in Karnataka, ensuring free and compulsory education for all, have also witnessed an enrolment decline in government schools and an increase in private schools.
According to a study conducted by Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM), a Mysuru-based public policy research and advocacy initiative, the number of students studying in class 1 to 10 at government schools has come down by 9.96 lakh, down from 54.5 lakh in 2010-11 to 44.5 lakh in 2017-18.
In comparison, the number of students in private institutions has gone up from 28.76 lakh in 2010-11 to 41.1 lakh in 2017-18.
GRAAM, which has sourced these statistics from Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, also claimed that 1,965 government schools — 1,884 lower primary and 81 higher primary — were closed in the seven-year period.
In contrast, the number of private educational institutions has increased by 5,241 — 1,445 lower primary and 3,796 higher primary.
GRAAM executive director Basavaraju R. attributed the fall in enrolment at government schools to worsening standards. For one, there has been a gradual reduction in the number of approved posts of teachers as well as the number of working teachers at government schools in the past seven years.
While the number of teachers approved for elementary schools in 2010-11 was 2,02,483, the number of teachers actually working was 1,89,451. By 2017-18, the numbers were down to 1,90,558 and 1,66,943, respectively. This means more than 23,600 posts were lying vacant in 2017-18.
With a limited number of teachers in each government school, every teacher is forced to teach for a minimum of nine hours a day, which has a bearing on the learning process. Hence, parents feel the standard of education in government schools is not up to the mark and look towards private schools, GRAAM said.
In terms of physical infrastructure at government schools, out of 1,98,415 classrooms that were available in elementary schools in 2010-11, only 1,35,000 were usable. In the year 2016-17, of the 2,11,098 classrooms available, only 1,37,969 were usable.
Symposium on all-round development of schools
Under its comprehensive school development programme ‘Sugamya Shiksha’, Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM) in association with the Department of Public Instruction will hold a two-day State-level symposium on the experiences of teachers on May 25 and 26 in the city.
The symposium seeks to examine the challenges faced by teachers and the solutions they had evolved to overcome the hurdles. The best practices to be followed will also be discussed.
The symposium, to be held at V-LEAD, Hebbal, will be inaugurated by the director of the Department of Public Instruction B.K. Basavaraju while Regional Commissioner Hemalatha and Deputy Director of Public Instruction Manjunath will be the guests.
As part of its Sugamya Shiksha programme, GRAAM is already implementing a comprehensive school development programme with the support of Page industries in nine government schools across Mysuru, Hassan and Bengaluru. The objective of Sugamya Shiksha is to strengthen the public education system by complementing resources to ensure comprehensive learning and development of children.
