A student poses a query at the Karnataka Child Rights Parliament held in Bengaluru on Monday.
Credit: DH Photo/Prashanth H G
Bengaluru: Scores of children, many of whom had travelled hundreds of miles to come to Bengaluru, were left disappointed when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah played truant for an interactive session he was scheduled to participate in on Monday.
The CM’s attendance had been touted as the highlight of the Karnataka Child Rights Parliament organised by the Karnataka Child Rights Observatory, and UNICEF. The children had come prepared with questions they wanted to pose to Siddaramaiah, and they waited patiently for an hour, but were left disappointed in the end when the Principal Secretary to the Department of School Education and Literacy Ritesh Kumar Singh arrived instead of the CM.
A student who had come all the way from Yadgir said, “I was eager to meet the CM. I am hurt not just because the CM did not turn up, but no minister came to listen to us.”
Another student from Vijayanagara district questioned the rationale of an IAS officer being deputed in the CM’s stead. “As an IAS officer, all the principal secretary said he could do when we spoke about our problems was that he would bring it to the notice of the government. If the CM had been there, we would have had solutions,” said the student.
Principal Secretary Ritesh Kumar Singh fielded questions on issues ranging from RTE, teacher truancy, safety, malnutrition, among others. To a question from a student on extending RTE to all children till the age of 18, Singh said, “It’s a very valid and important question. Across the world, education is compulsory for all children till the age of 18, but it is 14 in India. I will bring this to the CM’s attention.”
A Yadgir student complained about the shortage of teachers for science, maths and English. Singh told the student that the government was currently in the process of recruiting 5,300 teachers to fill vacancies exclusively in Kalyana Karnataka. “During the next recruitment drive, we will make it a priority to recruit science, English and maths teachers,” he said.
One student, daughter of a former Devadasi, urged Singh to make provisions in the application forms so they could fill in the mother’s name. She even pointed to a government order to that effect. “Filling father’s name is still mandatory while submitting applications online,” she rued.
Singh, addressing queries about laxity in standards of hygiene at school lavatories, said funds for maintenance had been increased. He asked students to question school authorities if maintenance was left to be desired.