Kageri failed as education minister: MLC

Make him Muzrai minister instead, taunts Y A Narayanaswamy

He said, in a tone that sounded sarcastic, that Kageri be made the Muzrai minister as he has failed to address several problems of education sector in the State.

No facilities

He told reporters on Saturday that over 80 per cent of the primary and high schools across the State lack basic facilities. There are no toilets, drinking water facility and majority of the schools don’t have even compounds.

No measures have been taken to fill up posts of teachers vacant for years, he added. The MLC said as the government has withdrawn the system of appointing guest lecturers the shortage of staff has adversely affected quality of education in these schools, the MLC said.

Expectations unsatisfied

‘Nali-kali’ - a programme aimed to make learning a fun for students from the first to third standard has not yielded expected results, he said adding these students, when come to high schools, face a lot of problems in their studies.

The state of high schools is no better as the department has not addressed several problems faced by the high school teachers. The disparity in their salary has  not been addressed despite several protests and they have not been even considered for promotion on 25:75 ratio.

The recommendations of the Vaidyanatha committee on the appointment of the physical instructors have not yet been implemented, the minister remarked.

The other problems he highlighted include medical insurance scheme for teachers and changes in policies pertaining to aided private schools.

Ineffective execution

Besides, the ‘Mahiti Sindhu’ programme has not been implemented properly and several computers have been left unused in the schools due to ‘ineffective execution of the programme’, he added. 

Narayanaswamy further criticised the department for introducing several schemes without proper guidelines and agenda and most of them are ‘irrelevant.’

The MLC alleged that Kageri has failed to respond to these problems even after they were brought to his notice several times. Narayanaswamy also threatened to hit the streets by end of this month, if the teachers’ problems are not addressed at the earliest.
Earlier, Narayanaswamy visited government PU colleges in Kurudumale, Koladevi, Gokunti, Pattimitte, Gudipalli, Bairakuru, Mushturu, Nangali, Hebbani and Mulbagal and interacted with students and teachers.

Block Education Officer S V Padmanabhaiah, Taluk High School Head Masters’ Association President Munivenkatappa, General Secretary M Narayanaswamy, Physical Instructors’ Association district president E Srinivasagouda, teachers Krshnareddy, Kembodi Nagaraj, Changalarayappa, Ramachandrappa, Shankarappa, Adinarayanswamy, Shridharababu, Narasimhareddy and Nagaraj had accompanied him.