In a victory to the activists who had opposed the free transfer of Maharani’s New Type Model School (NTMS) to Ramakrishna Ashram, the Commissioner, Department of Public Instruction on Saturday, ordered the continuation of the school at the same premises.

In an earlier order, the Commissioner had instructed the Deputy Director of Public Instruction to facilitate the transfer and merge the NTMS with Devaraj Higher Primary School.

Speaking at a press meet, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, H R Basappa said that the order to continue classes at the school was following the oral instructions issued by the Chief Minister.

“We received the official orders regarding the same today, which nullifies all the previous orders regarding the issue,” he said. There is no question of transferring the School property to Ramakrishna Ashram now, he added.

Admission campaign

After the new order was received, an ‘admission campaign’ will be held to increase the number of students studying in the school.

“Admissions for the school will start on Monday. I have instructed the Block Education Officer and other officials of the department to launch the campaign,” he said.

Till date, the office has received more than 60 applications for admission to the school. “We expect more than 100 admissions to the school this year,” he added.

Prohibitory orders will remain in place till June 5, he said.

Protests

It can be recalled that a few activists had protested against the free transfer of NTMS since the start of the last academic year.

The protests gathered steam recently, after the order by the Commissioner to facilitate the transfer of NTMS to the Ashram, to build a Swami Vivekananda memorial.

The order was based on a cabinet decision made by the BJP led former State government.
Soon after, an agitation against the transfer of NTMS was launched under the leadership of Kannada Kriya Samithi, which was supported by organisations such as Dalit Sangarsha Samithi, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and others.

There were also protests in favour of the free transfer of NTMS, which was launched under the leadership of litterateurs De Javaregowda, C P Krishnakumar and others.

The protests being held simultaneoulsy at NTMS premises had resulted in several anxious moments near the School, following which prohibitory orders were imposed around the School on May 29, Thursday.

The faction against the free transfer had launched their agitation on May 19, while the pro-transfer faction launched their demonstrations on May 24.

Reactions

Reacting to the new order, former MLC Madegowda of Vivekananda Smaraka Nirmana Horata Samithi, said that there was no need to take the order by the Commissioner of the Department of Public Instruction seriously.

“This is not even an official order,” he said.

He said that the Samithi would discuss a future course of action against the order soon.

Sa Ra Sudarshan of Kannada Kriya Samithi described the decision to be a victory for the activists. He added that a delegation would meet the Chief Minister demanding him to make the decision permanent, rather than for a period of time.

Cabinet decision

Sources in the district administration said that conditional transfer of NTMS to Ramakrishna Ashram was already complete and khata of the same had been handed over.

If the State government wants to continue the school, a cabinet decision overruling the previous decision has to be made, the source added.