BENGALURU: The People’s Alliance for Fundamental Right to Education (PAFRE) has strongly opposed the Siddaramaiah-led government’s amendment to the Karnataka School Examination and Evaluation Board Act, 1966, calling it a threat to the quality of education in the state.
The amendment allows Class 10 students to be declared “passed” if they score at least 33% combined marks in written and internal assessments, and a minimum of 30% in each subject. PAFRE Convener Prof Niranjanaradhya said this move will degrade education standards, making examinations a tick-box exercise rather than a true test of learning.
The group warned that reducing pass marks risks weakening already struggling Kannada-medium schools and could undermine the Kannada language and cultural identity. It urged all pro-Kannada organisations to oppose it. “Instead of addressing deep-rooted issues like teacher shortages and poor infrastructure, the government is lowering the bar to inflate pass percentages,” the group stated in a letter to the Board’s president.
The coalition highlighted severe staffing gaps and said that many primary schools have no teachers at all, around 8,000 schools operate with only one teacher, often handling multiple classes and subjects, even some high schools have just one teacher and in Kalyana Karnataka, nearly half of all teaching posts remain vacant.
In the letter, Niranjanaradhya blamed declining learning levels partly on the diversion of teachers into non-academic duties. “Teachers are increasingly engaged in administrative and extracurricular tasks,” he said. He asked the government to provide basic facilities and ensure that teachers can focus solely on teaching.