Pointing to the backwardness of Kalyana Karnataka in educational parameters, Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) chairperson Ajay Singh has said that the education sector is being given top priority by the board.
Addressing a media conference along with KKRDB secretary Anirudh Sravan at Aiwan-e-Shahi Guest House here on Wednesday, a day after the meeting of the KKRDB, Mr. Singh said that several resolutions were passed to address issues concerning the educational backwardness of Kalyana Karnataka districts.
“Of the 35 educational districts in the State, Kalyana Karnataka districts are at the bottom of the performance grid as far as SSLC is concerned. We discussed the educational backwardness of the region in detail at the KKRDB meeting [on Tuesday] and came up with some resolutions to address the issue. The important one among them is the recruitment of guest teachers to fill all vacancies in teaching posts in primary and high schools in the region. We are going to ensure that there is no vacancy in teaching posts against the sanctioned posts in any school in Kalyana Karnataka,” Mr. Singh said.
When asked about vacancies, Mr. Singh said that primary schools have 2,241 vacant teacher posts and high schools 831 vacant posts in the region.
“For the first time in history, Kalyana Karnataka schools are going to have full-fledged teaching faculty. We are aware that the region is facing a shortage of 18,282 teachers in primary and high schools. The State government is appointing 10,812 teachers in the first phase and 5,229 teachers in the second phase. There will still be a shortage of 3,072 teachers, 2,241 primary school teachers and 831 high school teachers, in the region. KKRDB will appoint guest teachers to fill these 3,072 vacancies to fill the gap. Once we do it, there will be no vacancies in teaching posts in any government schools in the region,” Mr. Singh said.
To a question on the criteria and the process for recruiting guest teachers, Mr. Singh clarified that the same measures taken by the Department of Public Instruction to appoint guest teachers across the State will be applied by KKRDB to appoint guest teachers in the region.
“We are determined to developing government schools in such a way that all parents will prefer them over private ones to admit their children in. If we can provide quality education with good infrastructure in government schools for no cost, why will anyone prefer to go to a private school and pay a huge amount of donation and fee? We are determined to strengthening government schools,” Mr. Singh said.
To a question, Mr. Singh said that the KKRDB is planning to implement some innovative measures, apart from recruitment of required teachers as part of long-term measures. This includes constituting a panel of subject experts to improve the performance of Kalyana Karnataka districts in SSLC and PU examinations, as an immediate step.
“Apart from long-term programmes, we are making short-term efforts to quickly improve the performance in SSLC examination in this academic year. The appointment of the expert panel for specialised coaching for SSLC students is one such initiative. We have long-term programmes for a steady improvement of education in the region. If everything goes as per plan, there will be three districts, at least, from Kalyana Karnataka securing places among the top 10 in the State in SSLC examination in the next three or four years,” Mr. Singh said.
