BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said although money has been allocated for schools and colleges, it is not being spent on providing basic facilities for children. Speaking at the inauguration of the Science Expo 2023, organised by the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) on Friday, he said that while money has been spent on improving buildings, basic facilities for students should get more attention. “The government spends crores of rupees on residential educational institutions.
Money is spent on buildings, compound walls and other amenities. As told in the state cabinet and functions, special attention must be paid to providing basic facilities to children. First, you make the changes to be done and then focus on other things,” he said.
He hit out at the previous government for its failures, stating that the allocation of money was done due to the introduction of the contract system of the government. “Despite spending Rs 30 crore on each school, the facilities that should have been available to children are absent. This is the gift that the previous governments have given due to the contract system,” he said.
Stating that the expo was a step in the right direction to foster a scientific temper among children, he said,
“The science fair is a good experiment to allow kids to express their scientific temper. Earlier, learning science was difficult, which has now changed. To usher in a change in society, science should be introduced to deprived children. The science fair should be expanded to other places,” he said, adding that more efforts to address the shortfalls must be made to ensure that adequate training is given to students to excel in competitive examinations.