Kannada Development Authority (KDA) Chairman S G Siddaramaiah has said closure of Kannada medium schools as one of the reasons for the steep increase in school dropouts, and suggested the Education department officials to take necessary measures to stem the rot.
Addressing the district-level officers at a progress review meeting organised at ZP auditorium here on Friday, Siddaramaiah said, the authorities have failed to ensure quality education in government schools.
As per the government notification, schools with less than ten students have to be closed, and the students should be shifted to another school in the adjoining area. But, many students, particularly girls, fail to join the schools for certain reasons and thus the number of dropouts keeps increasing. He pointed out that 11,874 schools in the state have been closed in last 10 years.
Deputy Director for Public Instructions (DDPI) H R Basappa clarified that no school in Mysuru district has been closed from 2010-2011. The district has 59 schools with an enrolment of less than 10 students, he said.
Siddaramaiah also said that a few private English medium schools are imposing fine on the students for speaking Kannada in the school and the authorities must take strict action against the school administration.
“I have observed a few schools displaying boards warning students not to speak Kannada in the campus,” he said.
KDA chairman also asked the DC to take measures to introduce Kannada as an additional subject in Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV).
CFTRI
Siddaramaiah said that the authority has received several complaints about the ill-treatment being meted out to Kannadigas working at Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and poor implementation of Kannada in administrative matters.
He told Deputy Commissioner D Randeep to take necessary steps to safeguard the interests of Kannadigas and effective implementation of Kannada in adminstration.
Default language
Siddaramaiah directed the district administration to ensure that Kannada is used as the default language in government websites. He also asked the DC to serve notice to the officials, including Superintendent of Police (SP) Ravi D Channannavar and ZP CEO P Shivashankar for not attending the meeting.
No need for RTE
Interacting with reporters later, Siddaramaiah said that there is no need for Right to Education (RTE) Act if government schools are strengthened. The government has been spending Rs 290 crore under RTE every year and if the same amount is spent on the development of government institutions, it would benefit many, he said.
Currently, only a few are benefited by RTE. If the government schools are strengthened then all economically weaker students will be benefited. The authority will include this point in the report to be submitted to the government, he said.
In Mysuru district, as many as 3,828 children have been identified so far under RTE for the year 2017-18, and 2,239 have already been enrolled, said DDPI.
KDA Secretary Murali, District Kannada Development Authority nominated members
Sudharshan, Maddikere Gopal, Pramod, Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Y D Rajanna were present.
Published 10 May 2017, 18:58 IST