JOIN USSchool education in Karnataka is staring at a grave crisis. The Karnataka government is shutting down lower primary government-run schools with low or no enrolment. Instead of finding ways to draw children to schools, improve standards of teaching and making the curriculum more interesting to arrest the drop-out rate, the government has thrown up its hands and admitted defeat. In 2009-10, it closed down nearly 500 lower primary schools which had less than five students on their rolls. It is now considering shutting down another 1,500 schools.
The government has sought to justify its decision by claiming that running these schools is not cost-effective. Indeed, around 150 schools in the state have zero children attending them. The government is spending on the salaries of 196 teachers and upkeep of 261 classrooms when no student is attending these schools. Then there are almost 600 schools where less than five children are enrolled. Here too the teachers and classrooms are being put to less than optimal usage.
But the value of education cannot be counted in terms of costs and profits. Investing in education is a long-term project, the benefits of which will become apparent over decades.
Its impact is visible not in rupees earned by schools but in the effect it has on enhancing children’s skills and long-term opportunities. Isn’t the Karnataka government aware of the multiplier effect that education has in improving health and nutrition, in tackling social problems like dowry, gender discrimination, domestic violence and so on? Government-run schools are lifelines for the poorest sections in our society.
It appears that preference for English medium schools, given the larger opportunities they promise, is keeping children away from Kannada-medium government schools. If this is so, perhaps the government needs to provide the option of English medium in its schools. One of the aims of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan was to make schools more accessible. That is more schools would be set up so that children do not have to trudge long distances every day.
Karnataka’s decision to shut down schools will defeat this objective. It will deter children from going to school. At the heart of the school crisis is quality of education being provided. That must be tackled by providing teachers with regular training and designing curriculums that are practical and stimulating. Cutting down on the number of schools will plummet literacy levels in the state.