BENGALURU: Despite the promises made by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to improve the standard of Kannada-medium schools in the state, the reality on the ground is something else. Kannada-medium government schools are no different from other government schools in terms of lack of facilities, faculty members and students. Schools especially in the border areas are worst hit as allocation of funds remains low. The increasing number of private schools also poses a challenge.
Bommai had assured that Kannada-medium schools, not only in the border areas, but also in other states would be upgraded. School Education and Literacy Minister BC Nagesh also said that a large number of Kannada-medium schools in the Kalyan Karnataka region have been upgraded. Nagesh, however, admitted that besides two major challenges of lack of teachers and classrooms, the bigger problem is a lack of schools themselves.
Two Kannada medium schools in Byndoor in Udupi district have been shut due to lack of funds and students. R Vishal, commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, said, “A majority of the Kannada-medium schools in the state are primary schools. There are fewer secondary schools and even fewer high schools. Understandably, parents prefer to admit their children in schools that have all the three levels, rather than just a primary school,” he said.
Owing to this, many primary schools not only face a shortage of students but are also not given priority when it comes to appointing teachers. “To the best of our ability, we have ensured that each school has at least one teacher, at the very least one guest teacher,” he said. On whether more Kannada schools would be opened, the commissioner said that it did not make sense as 48,000 Kannada government schools already exist in the state.