BENGALURU: Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Wednesday lashed out at the state government over problems faced by school students. He tweeted, “While the ‘vicious group’ of government ministers, ruling party leaders and officials are indulging in a commission racket and looting the state exchequer, they are playing with the future of government schoolchildren by not providing textbooks, bicycles, shoes, socks to them. Some schools have old textbooks, some schools have new textbooks, while others don’t have textbooks at all.”
His tweets were in response to a government statement that it is not distributing bicycles, shoes and socks to government students this academic year. Siddaramaiah further tweeted, “BJP gave Covid as the reason in the previous two years and now with the 40% commission they have emptied the coffers. The ruling party leaders & officers are looting the public money through 40% commission politics. The government is still unable to take a decision on distribution of textbooks to students. The government does not have money even to give the ‘Vidyapravesha’ and ‘Kalika Chetharike’ supplements to the students.”
He stated, “The education department has issued an order to teachers to spend their own money to get the learning materials printed to give to students. No government had reached such a miserable state in the past.”
He said, “It was former CM B S Yediyurappa who introduced the scheme to give bicycles to girl students. Is Basavaraj Bommai trying to sideline BS Yediyurappa by not continuing the scheme?”
In response, Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh said in Kalaburagi, “The government has not taken any decision yet on providing bicycles, shoes and socks to the students.”
On the issue of textbooks, he said, “Up to 85 per cent of textbooks have been distributed. But wherever it has not happened, I have instructed officials to complete the process within a week.”