The State government in the recent budget announced that 500 government schools will be upgraded as Karnataka Public Schools. Of these 500, 137 government schools are in the seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka region and they too will be upgraded as Karnataka Public Schools, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Madhu Bangarappa has said.
After releasing the Akshara Avishkara programme brochure, Mr. Bangarappa and KKRDB chairman Ajay Singh told a press conference that besides the existing 297 Karnataka Public Schools in the State, the government has planned to upgrade 500 schools as Karnataka Public Schools to carry out bilingual teaching from the primary level and to improve the learning ability of children in government-run schools.
Mr. Bangarappa revealed that the State government has planned to establish 3,000 Karnataka Public Schools (one school for every two gram panchayats) across Karnataka in the next three years.
Establishing more Karnataka Public Schools will give an opportunity for students to study in the language of their choice. “We are aiming to bring back students who have dropped out of schools,” he added.
20,000 teachers
To fine-tune teaching skills and improve SSLC results, nearly 20,000 teachers will be trained by private organisations under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.
Soon after the Congress government came to power, “we have recruited nearly 14,000 teachers, of which 12,000 teachers have been posted to various schools across the State. Around 3,900 teachers have been recruited in the Kalyana Karnataka region, Mr. Bangarappa said and added that the government has also appointed 43,000 guest teachers across the State.
The government is committed to improving the quality of education by allocating adequate funds for the Education Department.
Responding to a question, Mr. Bangarappa tried to justify three annual examinations stating that the first examination will be compulsory for all students, while the second and third will help students score more marks. This system will also help check dropouts, he added.
Model Schools
Mr. Ajay Singh said that out of the 9,247 schools in the Kalyana Karnataka region, 1,975 (50 schools in each Assembly constituency of the region) have been identified for being developed as Model Schools under the Akshara Avishkara Yojana this year.
By developing infrastructure facilities in 2,000 schools in the region every year, the board has planned to upgrade all schools in the next five years. For 2023-24, the State government has allocated ₹3,000 crore to the KKRDB, of which ₹652 crore (25% of the allocation) has been earmarked for Akshara Avishkara Yojana, he added.
KKRDB secretary Sundaresh Babu and Additional Commissioner of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Kalaburagi Division, Akash Shankar were present.
