The department of school education and literacy has made tardy progress in reclaiming the encroached government school properties across the state.
In the last eight months, the department was able to recover over 3,000 acres of land belonging to the government schools in various districts. According to the data furnished by the department, no less than 18,000 encroachment cases are pending.
In April 2022, the departments of school education and revenue combined launched a 'Save government school property' campaign and directed the officials at the local level to identify the government school properties and register them in the respective schools name.
According to the officials, it will take at least two more years to reach the target. "It will take at least a year or two to complete 90% of the school property registration," said a senior official of the education department.
As explained by the officials, a majority of the encroachment of government school property is in the districts where the land price is high and the mafia is active. "In districts like Bengaluru, the government school properties have been encroached by real estate mafia. There are cases pending in the courts. We will soon clear the encroachments," added the official.
In some places, schools are built on forest land and the said land has to be registered in the name of the schools. "There are issues with land donated for schools. The family members have moved the court and that needs to be resolved as it was donated to schools by their ancestors," the official said.
There are over 48,000 government schools in the state and so far the properties of 29,000 schools have been registered in the ongoing drive.