BENGALURU: Government schools across the state will soon get a helping hand from the Energy Department, which has agreed to provide them free power supply drawn from solar power projects. Energy Minister D K Shivakumar confirmed this in an official communication to the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR). The confirmation came as a reply to a letter penned by KSCPCR chairperson Kripa Alva, requesting the government to provide free power to schools or to take measures to pay the electricity bills.
In his reply, Shivakumar said while there was no option to pay the bills, free power supply can be provided. A note was also sent by Shivakumar to the Additional Chief Secretary of the Energy Department asking that measures be chalked out to provide free power supply drawn from solar power projects to all schools across the state. “We have received the note from the minister and are working out modules to supply free power; the same will be finalised soon,” a senior official from the department said.
During a recent visit to government schools to inspect the conditions, Chairperson Alva noticed that there was no dedicated fund for paying electricity bills which had been set aside by schools. This was pointed out by teachers and students who interacted with her. “Within the existing system, there are no funds set aside. This has to be managed by school development and management committees or from the teachers’ pockets,” she said.
Adding that provision of free power was demanded by many during her visits, she said, “Many have expressed the problem and requested to pay the electricity bill from the Power Department. I have brought the same to the notice of Energy Minister D K Shivakumar in an official communication and he sent a positive reply where he said that there is no provision to pay back the bills, but can provide free power facility.” There are over 43,000 government schools across the state and the Energy Department is executing an estimation for providing free power supply using solar panels.
FANS, COMPUTERS UNUSED AS NO FUNDS TO PAY BILLS
During her visit, Kripa Alva realised that at some of the schools, though there are fans and computers, these were kept unused as they need power and there were no funds to pay the bills. “It was pathetic. At some schools located in North Karnataka districts, in summer, even though the schools have fans, kids were made to sit without switching them on despite the high temperature. When asked, teachers said, they can’t pay the electricity bill,” said a member of the KSCPCR who accompanied the chairperson during the visit.