Govt school enrolment fell by over 15% since 2022: Data

Bengaluru: Government school enrolment in Karnataka has fallen by over 15% in three years, which is roughly one in six students gone from state-run classrooms since 2022-23, according to education department data.

Between 2022-23 and 2025-26, a total of seven lakh students dropped out of government schools.

The government has attributed the drop in enrolment to parents’ desire that their children receive English education, preference of central syllabus, migration and the mushrooming of private schools.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa are bullish on the ‘flagship’ Karnataka
Public Schools (KPS), which is the government’s answer to competition from private schools.

Schools branded as KPS offer English education, transportation and K12 (kindergarten to Class 12) in one campus. At present, there are 309 KPS. Another 900 schools are being upgraded as KPS.

Between 2018 and 2025, bilingual (Kannada and English) pre-primary sections have been started in 6,675 government schools. At present, 9,522 government schools have bilingual education from Classes 1 to 5.

Until June 30 this year, the department of school education & literacy is running a statewide admission campaign with a target of
increasing enrolment by at least 5%.

While all government schools and pre-university colleges must hike enrolment by 5%, the target is 10% for the KPS.

A total of 57,651 teaching posts are vacant in government primary and high schools, according to data. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced that 15,000 teachers will be hired in the 2026-27 fiscal.

For now, the government is making do with 34,027 guest teachers in primary schools and 9,499 in high schools.