Govt school kindergartens will have play areas from 2020-21

The kindergarten setup at state government schools will be more attractive and child-friendly from the next academic year as the Department of Primary and Secondary Education has decided to construct a ‘play area’.

Considering the facilities available at private kindergartens which keep children engaged and physically active, the department has decided to follow suit.

According to the sources, a proposal has been discussed during the recent meeting, and the facility will come up at state-run kindergartens from 2020-21 academic year. “It is difficult for teachers to engage the kindergarten kids with only classroom activities. Hence, the department has decided to come up with a dedicated play area following the feedback and suggestions by the teachers and the parents,” said an official source from the department.

The play areas will have equipment like swing, slide, climbing, jumping board, rocker chair, ball pool, sand box, adjustable basket ball stand and tunnel among others.

Meanwhile, the department has decided to increase the number of kindergartens for 2020-21 academic year considering the demand. Along with existing 276 Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) where department had started kindergartens/pre-schools during 2019-20 academic year, the department has decided to extend the same to other schools too during 2020-21 academic year.

During 2019-20 academic year over 8,000 children enrolled for pre-primary classes at government schools (KPS) and the number of kids admitted to each section were 30. “This has been discussed even at the pre-budget meeting and submitted a proposal for 225 more KPS and kindergarten at all of them,” official added.

Currently there are over 2,000 applications pending before the government to start pre-primary classes. An internal survey conducted by the department revealed that 40% of the children joined pre-primary classes were from the middle and upper middle-class background.