Govt English medium schools: Over 2K kids admitted

With the State government introducing English as a medium of instruction in government schools, a total of 2,304 children have been admitted to Class I in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

In Dakshina Kannada district, 1,627 students have been admitted to 43 English medium schools during the academic year. While in Udupi, 677 students have been admitted during the year.

Speaking to DH, DK DDPI Shivaramayya said there was good response from parents for Government English Medium Schools in the district. As promised in the budget of 2018-19, the state government had introduced English as medium of instruction in order to boost attendance in 43 schools in the district.

With an aim of making government schools on par with private English-medium schools, the government had taken a decision to introduce English as medium of instruction in 1,000 schools across Karnataka, Shivaramayya said.

“As many as 63 teachers had completed training to teach in English medium schools. The English medium will be extended to Class II from next academic year. The expansion of English medium classes will be taken up in a phased manner,” he added.

Though enrollment for English medium has increased, Kannada medium is lagging behind in admission with only 241 students getting admitted to the schools during the year, sources said.

In Udupi, English medium was started in 22 schools, including eight Karnataka Public Schools.

Of the 22 schools, 10 schools have registered highest enrollment of students.

They are Government Model Higher Primary School at Brahmavar (63), Uppunda Government Higher Primary School (61), Vandse Government School (36), Hebri Government School (35), Muniyalu School (41), Pervaje School (40), Bidkalkatte School (46), Tekkatte School (86), Hiriyadka School (36) and Valakadu School (30).

No children have been admitted to Class I in five Kannada medium schools where English medium has been introduced in Udupi.

They are schools situated at Dombe, Hebri, Bidkalkatte, Beejadi Padu and Nadsal.

Single teachers

As many as 93 schools in Dakshina Kannada have single teachers. Guest teachers have been appointed in such schools to ensure that education of the children are not affected. There are 3,590 teachers in primary schools in the district and 671 posts are lying vacant while in high schools, there are 1,255 teachers.

As many as 334 posts are vacant. The vacancies are being adjusted by appointing guest teachers, said sources in the department.