Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait has hinted at the possibility of introducing Kannada Public School in each hobli across the State by the coming academic year.
He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a district-level workshop “Academic Thinking-2017”, jointly organised by Karnataka State Primary School Teachers’ Association, High School Teachers’ Association, and PU College Principals’ Association, in Kalaburagi on Wednesday.
Mr. Sait said that besides the existing government schools in rural areas, every hobli will have an exclusive Kannada Public School that teaches purely in Kannada.
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To reduce dropout rate, the Education Department is planning to integrate schools and pre-university colleges, Mr. Sait said, adding that these schools will teach from Class 1 to 12.
Of the 43,895 primary schools in Karnataka, 176 schools have reported single enrolment and around 3,000 schools have admitted less than 10 students.
“We are neither going to close the existing government schools nor planning to open new schools,” Mr. Sait said. He said fall in number of students in government institutions was a concern and that the government was planning to upgrade the education system from the grassroots level.
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The Education Department has proposed to the government to amend the cadre and recruitment (C&R) rules to consider the recruitment of physical education teachers, contract teachers, and also to extend promotions for eligible PU lectures to degree colleges.
Elaborating on issues concerning the Right to Education Act, the Minister said the government would enhance and extend the policy demanding more seats in the coming years. According to Mr. Sait, as many as 5,19,000 students have been admitted to various schools across the State under the RTE quota till now. With Karnataka being one among the three States in the country to successfully implement the policy, the government is keen on improving the education system and reduce dropout rate, he added.
In the last five years, he said the State government has spent around ₹680 crore for reimbursing private schools for admitting students under RTE. Around ₹240 crore was allocated for constructing laboratories, libraries, and toilets in PU colleges across the State, he said.
Clarifying on the confusion regarding increments to government primary and secondary school teachers, Mr. Sait said the government was committed to protecting the interest of teachers. Any sort of agitation by teachers would affect the future of thousands of students across the State, he said.