Chief Minister

Karnataka

Legislative Council

Over 28,000 govt & aided schools face closure after Budget proposalIf pre-poll speeches were any indication,ofHD Kumaraswamy should have had a Budget which would offer succour to every section of society. It wasn't be. While has he drawn flak from almost every quarter for hiking fuel prices, he has come under fire from the state's academicians. Reason: As many as 28,847 government and aided schools across the state will soon be shut after the Budget.HD Kumaraswamy announced that 28,847 government and aided schools would be merged with 8,530 schools — academicians say technically, it means shutters for as many schools. And they describe the move as disastrous.VP Niranjanaradhya, an academician, who works with various government projects, said, “This decision by the CM is disastrous, if not, atrocious. By doing this, the CM will be known in the history for destroying public education in the state by shutting down schools."According to academicians, this is a decision to destroy the government school system. “Instead, the CM should have stopped giving nod for new private schools or permission to set up private schools in 5 to 6 Km radius of a government school,” said another expert.“And the CM thinks that he can repair buildings of state government schools and PU colleges with juts Rs 150 crore. I request him to visit over 78,000 government schools which are in a pathetic state and then come up with a figure," said Arun Shahapura, a Member of(MLC). Several educationists in the state have decided to start an agitation protesting the move.What department officials sayHowever, the department of primary and secondary education’s says it will provide transport facility for students after the merger of the schools to help students reach another school. “There will be a common pickup point to pick children and drop them to schools and also back home,” said a senior official. In a path-breaking move, the Chief Minister announced that English-medium government schools will be introduced in over 1,000 schools. Though primary education in mother tongue is a state policy, the CM decided to offer English Medium at the higher primary level (from Class VI).This was one of the long-pending demand by parents who can't afford to send their kids to private schools which offer English medium. The CM also made another remarkable announcement of extending helpline number 108 and 104 for mother and child health services and mental health protection services.