MADIKERI: The education of nearly 70 students at the border village of Karike in Kodagu is at stake following severe staff shortage. The government school, which has a majority of SC-ST students, is neglected by the authorities even as the panchayat has urged the concerned authorities to resolve the issue.
Karike is a small village in Kodagu near the Kerala-Karnataka border. This border village lacks proper facilities including improved healthcare. The people in this village have to depend highly on Panathur (major town in Kasargod district of Kerala) for their daily needs including purchase of groceries, medicines and for healthcare services.
Since the students in the village speak Kannada, most of them attend the Karike Government School. However, the residents share that the students might be forced to study in schools in Kerala following staff crunch in the district government school.
“The Government High School in Karike is attended by 70 students – majority of them from SC-ST community. The school requires a total of six teachers. However, only four teachers were appointed. Now, three teachers have applied for transfer and have availed the same through the counseling process. Now, the last one has also applied for transfer,” explained Balachandran Katoor, VP of the Karike Grama Panchayat.
He added that the education of the students will be at stake due to the non-availability of teachers. Several students might even drop out from the schools as the next nearest school is in Sulia that is 25 km away and Bhagamandala in Kodagu, which is 30 km away.
“While big projects are being released under the Karnataka Border Area Development Authority, none of the benefits have reached our border village,” he added.
When questioned, DDPI Rangadamaiah said that the department will try to appoint guest teachers. “If not for guest teachers, we will send teachers from other government-aided schools to the Karike School thrice in a week,” Rangadamaiah added. When asked about the state of the classes on the other three days, he said, “We will try and send different teachers if possible. We will make sure that the education of the students is not affected.”