JOIN USGovernment schools in Bangalore Rural district are all set to extend education to the kindergarten level as well, with 31 of them preparing to start LKG and UKG classes.
At the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) district meeting on Saturday, Labour and Sericulture Minister B N Bache Gowda said private schools had attracted the attention of parents because of the kindergarten education they offered.
Due to this, the enrolment in government schools had dropped.
With the introduction of kindergarten education, admissions in government schools will go up too, said the minister.
The department of public instruction is starting the programme in co-ordination with the women and child welfare department.
In schools where anganwadis are run in their premises, kindergarten classes will be held in the same place.
The 31 government higher primary schools will also begin class 8 as part of the continuous comprehensive evaluation system, which seeks to consider class 6 to 8 as higher primary, while class 9 and 10 will be high school, Gowda said.
The budget for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan this year is Rs 29.82 crore, which is more than twice the previous year’s Rs 13.82 crore.
Of this, nearly Rs 7.5 crore has been set aside for buildings of 210 schools, the minister said.
Department of public instruction deputy director H V Venkateshappa, Bangalore Rural zilla panchayat president Bhagyamma, education and health standing committee president Kalpana and others were present.