BENGALURU: While thousands of government schools are on the verge of closure, the picture is no different for unaided Kannada medium schools. Around 600 such schools and colleges are on the verge of shutting down because of a lack of funds to pay the salaries of teachers or to develop their infrastructure.
Teachers from these schools have now written to Minister for School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa, asking him to release funds to clear their salaries.
Santhosh, a teacher at Vanitha Kannada High School in Kirthi Nagar, Bommanakatte, in Shivamogga, said, “The last time that an unaided school was converted into aided was in 1995. The last time that grants were given by the government to provide salaries for teachers was also the same year.”
He said, “We don’t charge a single rupee from students at our school, but provide quality education. If the schools shut down, many teachers will lose their jobs and over 6,000 children will be impacted. More importantly, there will be no Kannada schools which are as important as English medium ones.
‘We want government to convert unaided schools into aided’
“We had earlier protested demanding grants from the government and to convert unaided schools into aided, but nothing has been done. We had over 100 students in our school, but most of them shifted after more aided and English medium schools emerged in our neighbourhood. We now have only 60 students,” Santhosh said.
He pointed out that every year, unaided Kannada medium schools have recorded a pass percentage of 90 in SSLC exams.
GC Shivappa, president, Unaided Kannada Medium Schools, Karnataka, said, “The minister said on the floor of the House during the recent winter session in Belagavi that our schools would be included in the coming budget.” “When we met him personally on Saturday, he made us the same promise. But previous education ministers too had stated that these schools would be part of the budget, but that never happened, Shivappa added.”
Madhu Bangarappa was not available for comments when TNSE reached out to him.