BENGALURU: The state government on Wednesday admitted that many government schools were on the verge of closure as they did not have enough students. This was the reason why an amendment was brought to the Right to Education (RTE) Act, barring parents from seeking admission under RTE in private schools if there was a government or aided school in their locality.
Making a submission before a division bench of the Acting Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice PS Dinesh Kumar, Advocate General Uday Holla said that there was a considerable reduction in admission to government schools with many recording zero admissions after the act came into force. The High Court is hearing a petition filed by RTE Students and Parents association against the amendment. Holla also submitted that there was an increase in the number of private schools post the act while government schools were closing down.
The Advocate-General contended that the state was not shirking its responsibilities but was only looking to strengthen government schools. He also argued that students attending government schools would become better citizens than those in private schools. “The Government incurred an expenditure of Rs. 1,269.29 crore towards reimbursement of pre-child expenditure to the private unaided schools from from 2012-13 to 2018-19,” he argued.
HC refuses to interfere with release of biopic on Modi
BENGALURU: Refusing to interfere with the release of biopic ‘P M Narendra Modi’, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stall the release of the film. This was after the petitioner-advocate Ramesh Naik said that he submitted the demand to the ECI, and did not receive any response for the same.