Is the state govt really serious about govt schools?

Like many tall promises made by the State government, the word to revive and develop the dying government schools is only on the paper. Lest, why would it allow the closure of over 10,560 government schools in the last 10 years? At the same time, over 10,000 convent schools have been blessed by the Education department to establish themselves, in flat two years. These startling facts have been reported in a study of 'empowerment of government schools' conducted by the Kannada Development Authority, reports Prajavani.

Rampant mushrooming of private schools and merging of government schools have also proved threat to the survival of the government schools. As per the report, at least 90 per cent of the toilets in most of the government schools have been rendered useless and 60 per cent of the schools do not have access to drinking water, reports Prajavani.

The committee is of the opinion that unless the government considers having its own pre-school (on the lines of LKG and UKG), the government schools may vanish in the long run.

In fact, the government is not responsible alone for the closure of the government schools. But the attitude of the parents who fail to send their wards - despite providing free uniforms and textbooks - after anganwadi is also the cause for the death of government schools, cites the committee report. The report which is expected to be presented it to the government recommends it to bring in modification in the laws of permitting private schools to curb their rampant growth, lest it will prove death knell for the government schools.

As per the 2015 Education Act, Kannada should be taught compulsorily in CBSE and ICSE schools. But the government has never bothered to follow it up. From this academic year, Kerala has made Malayalam mandatory in its schools. Unlike Kerala, the state government does not have the will power to make Kannada mandatory in schools, the committee observed.

• government schools in karnataka