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More than 3,000 government-run schools in Karnataka are set to be shut down due to lack of students. According to Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa, of the more than 47,000 government schools in the state, some 3,500 schools have fewer than 10 students, while many among them have zero enrolment.
Governments are faced with the option of either shutting down such schools or merging them with other schools nearby to ensure that there are enough students. To make matters worse, many schools have zero teachers. The minister’s own constituency, Sorab, has 52 schools with no teachers; the situation in schools across the state, especially in rural areas, can easily be imagined.
More than 6,500 schools in the state with more than 100 students are managing with just one teacher. Many reasons have contributed to the poor student enrolment. With aspiration levels rising, even people in the lower strata of society do not want to send their children to government Kannada medium schools and instead enrol them in private schools, where the quality of education and infrastructure are perceived to be better. Besides, why would parents send children to schools that have no teachers in the first place?
The Constitution provides for free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14 as a fundamental right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21A, means that every child has a right to full-time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
Compulsory education, thus, casts an obligation on the government to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of school education by all children in the 6-14 age group. Karnataka has clearly fallen back on this obligation by failing to maintain the necessary standards in government schools, thereby forcing students to go to private schools even if it means paying higher fees.
The government should immediately conduct a third-party audit of its schools to check what exactly ails the education system in the state and fix the shortcomings. Steps must be taken to fill the vacant academic posts without delay while the skills of existing teachers should be constantly upgraded to bring them on par with those in private schools.
Many government schools lack even basic infrastructure like buildings and furniture, which too needs to be addressed. Karnataka should aspire to provide world-class education facilities, which is now the preserve of the rich, to even the poorest of the poor.