BENGALURU: With the state budget round the corner, experts and organisations have expressed what they are expecting this year in terms of education. From long-standing demands to changes needed due to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the overall consensus from stakeholders in the education sector is that there needs to be more allocation towards education.
“A recent survey showed the widening learning gap for foundational skills, which can also be attributed to schools remaining closed across the country during the pandemic, and the need to address this is critical. We urge the government to focus on expanding access to education and technology, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The loss of learning is a stark reality and transcends the rural-urban divide in government schools,” said Niru Agarwal, trustee of Greenwood High International School.
The Karnataka Associated Managements Of English Medium Schools (KAMS) said that they have had several long-standing demands left over from the pandemic. Speaking to TNIE, KAMS general secretary D Shashi Kumar said that private schools had been struggling since the pandemic to ensure that students are properly looked after.
“We have made several demands of the government, most important of which is to ensure that teaching and non-teaching staff of private unaided schools are considered for healthcare schemes provided by the government. Meanwhile, we are also hoping that the government addresses the issues faced by private schools in shouldering the responsibility of the government in educating students during the pandemic,” he said.
Kumar stated that a lot of the private unaided schools, especially in North Karnataka, are budget schools and had been struggling since the pandemic due to a lack of financial support from the government. Meanwhile, he added that financial assistance must also be given to the schools in implementing NEP, especially in providing training to teachers.
“More money should also be allocated to eliminate the deficiencies seen in government schools and colleges. We are also asking that the government abandon its school closure policy in the name of ‘merging’ schools. There should also be an increase in funding for higher education, as well as recruitment of permanent teachers and lecturers in government educational institutions,” AIDSO’s Karnataka State Committee said in a list of demands.
Teacher training
Dr Trishta, founder of Ekya School, and Provost, CMR University, said, “We hope the government allocates funds to strengthen teacher training and development programmes and establish state-of-the-art teacher training institutes. These programmes will empower the creation of highly qualified and accomplished educators with the necessary expertise and abilities to facilitate exemplary lessons in the classroom. Similarly, the funds can be utilised to set up teacher-mentoring initiatives that enable veteran educators to impart their expertise and abilities to aspiring teachers.