Kannada-medium govt schools lacking in infrastructure: Study

After spending crores of rupees on new initiatives, programmes and improving infrastructure, it now appears that not a single Kannada-medium government school assessed in Karnataka is able to qualify for the highest grade for physical and academic infrastructure.

Under a pilot study by the Karnataka School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Council, 1,020 Kannada-medium schools, shortlisted out of the 50,000-odd government schools in the state, were tested for various parameters, but no school qualified for the top A plus category, while only five schools qualified for A grade. Out of these five, four schools are at Chikkodi and one at Udupi. Schools were shortlisted for the exercise on the basis of applications received.

A majority of chools have only 40 per cent to 49.9 per cent infrastructure that is classified as Grade C. Many others fall between Grade C plus and D. Most schools in Bidar, Davanagere, Gulbarga, Bellary, Raichur, Bijapur and Kolar did not perform better than Grade D.

Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar released the findings of the pilot study that was taken up between July 2013 and February 2013, on Thursday.

“Five aspects, namely, school physical environment and infrastructure, classroom environment, leadership, innovative activities and community participation were considered in addition to learning achievement. While grading the schools, 60 per cent was set aside for learning achievement of students, while the rest 40 per cent was divided among these five aspects. Before assessment by experts, schools had to do one round of self assessment.” Ratnakar said.

Among the 1,020 schools, 612 (59,876 students) were higher primary schools and 408 were high schools (35,992 students). From each taluk, three Higher Primary Schools and two High Schools were chosen.  In five stages, 612 external evaluators and 1,020 schools principals conducted the assessment.

To analyse the learning achievement, students of classes 3,5,7 and 9 were given assessment tests in various topics in Kannada, English, social science, environmental science, general science and mathematics. University professors and NAAC representatives supervised the assessment procedure.

It was found that all students demonstrated better comprehension in Kannada compared to other subjects. With regard to other subjects, the comprehension of environmental science in Class 3, science in Class 5, social science in Class 7 and English in Class 9 were found to be poor.

While the Education Department has no count of the actual amounts spent on each school annually, Ratnakar made it clear that it would require at least Rs 6,000 crore to revamp the existing infrastructure. “There is a financial constraint. None of the government departments currently are in a position to claim that kind of funds for themselves.” he said.

He said the government will take steps to ensure each school has teachers for every subject and a teacher trained for one subject did not end up teaching another subject.  Based on the findings, schools and block education officers have been asked to make a list of the loopholes pointed out and come up with a plan to improve the situation.

“The observation is the preliminary part. Now, we will start focusing on sketching a plan in detail to improve the quality of schools. We cannot do it all at once,” Ratnakar said.