The Department of School Education and Literacy has revised the amount of school funds for the maintenance of government schools up to ₹45,000 per annum on the basis of the number of students enrolled. Earlier, the department was providing only ₹2,500 to ₹5,000 per annum, irrespective of the number of students.
Owing to the shortage of funds, government schools have been seeing maintenance problems related to electricity, water, cleaning of toilets, and maintenance of libraries, playground, laboratories and others.
According to an earlier order of the Samagra Shikshana Karnataka, a government school that has one to 30 students is eligible for ₹10,000 school funds per annum. A school that has an enrolment of up to 100 students is eligible for ₹25,000 per annum, up to 250 students ₹50,000, up to 1,000 schools ₹75,000 and above 1,000 students ₹1 lakh per annum as maintenance charge.
However, in practice, the department has not been providing adequate funds for maintenance for four to five years. Instead, they have been provided funds for only drinking water and toilet cleaning. Many schools located in Bengaluru and other cities are facing a funds crunch for maintenance and have even reported having failed to pay the electricity and water bills and faced disconnection.
The Karnataka State Primary School Teachers Association (KSPSTA) submitted a proposal to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in June requesting to provide free electricity and water for all Government Primary and High schools across the State.
The Chief Minister, in the recent Budget, announced increasing the school funds for government schools. Now, the department has revised the amount of school funds up to ₹45,000 and allocated a total of ₹120.33 crore per annum for all government schools.
According to the new order, a government school that has up to 50 students is eligible for ₹20,000 in school funds per annum. A school that has an enrolment of up to 100 students is eligible for ₹28,000 per annum, up to 500 students ₹ 33,000 and above 501 students ₹45,000 per annum as maintenance charge.
But teachers are not happy. Speaking to The Hindu, a Head Master from Government Urdu School, Ramanagara District, said, “We have about 270 students in our school every year. According to the department’s old order, we were eligible to get ₹50,000 school funds per annum for school maintenance.
“In the revised order, we are eligible to get only ₹28,000 per annum. Electricity bills will come up to ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 per month. It is not possible to pay the water and electricity bills every month. Most of the time, we pay electricity bills from our pocket. This amount is not enough for the maintenance of 270 students, including toilet cleaning, drinking water and other maintenance charges. We request the government to revise this amount again or restore the old order and release the fund according to the order.”
