The State Education department proposes to launch a “Nurture” scheme to facilitate private partners adopt government schools for five years, to transform them as centres of excellence, said Vijayabhaskar, secretary for Primary Education.
He was speaking at a function arranged here for the adoption of 125 government upper primary schools in the Kanakapura Taluk of Ramanagara district, by the Sikshana Foundation. The Foundation had earlier adopted 36 schools and added another 89 on Monday, making it one of the biggest such initiatives in the State.
On the ‘Nurture’ scheme, Mr Vijayabhaskar said expression of interest would soon be invited from donors. Financial assistance of World Bank and the Central government would also be taken, he added.
The department has also launched the School Academic Plan to improve conditions in schools, he said.
Sikshana Foundation director K Ravindra spoke about how the scheme had expanded over the last five years from 3 to 48 schools, thanks to overwhelming support from international organisations like Vibha and Asha for education, besides corporates like Bosch and Adobe. The Foundation wanted to extend it to 1000 schools in at least three states.
Kumara Naik G, Commissioner, Public Instruction, said that tremendous results had been achieved within a short span of five years in Sikshana-adopted schools.
He said the next five-year plan would see a 18 per cent increase in the investment for the education sector compared to the previous plan.
There was no dearth of money, but immediate attention is required in the delivery mechanism and managerial skills at various levels. The State government was trying to address those issues on a priority basis, he said.
Dr A Ravindra, former chief secretary, said Karnataka had achieved 70 per cent of literacy rate, but women’s literacy was around 30. The divide between urban schools and rural schools and government schools and private schools should be addressed immediately, he suggested.
Decision on sslc exams
The Education department will take a final decision on the examination scheme for SSLC, brought into effect three years ago, based on the report of the committee constituted recently. Based on the recommendations, the department will decide whether to continue or discontinue the pattern, said Mr Vijayabhaskar. The department will request the government to earmark an amount of Rs 400 crore for the primary education sector, in the budget for 2008-09.
