AIDSO stages protest in Belagavi against merger of rural schools

AIDSO members took out a protest rally in Belagavi on Monday, against the State government’s plans to start magnet Karnataka Public Schools, saying that the government is closing rural schools in the name of merger.

Protestors gathered at Dharwad Naka on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway near the Suvarna Soudha.

They raised slogans against the State government and expressed the fear that nearly 40,000 government schools in rural areas faced closure in this exercise.

AIDSO State vice-president Abhaya Diwakar said that Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa has been repeatedly making false claims about the scheme.

“The Minister has said that no government school will be closed. But this is far from truth. Already, Education Department officials are closing down rural schools in Yadgir, Channapatna, Chitradurga, Chikkaballapur and other districts. An estimated 2,000 schools are likely to be closed in Belagavi district. This is condemnable,’’ she said.

Meanwhile, Subhash Bettadakoppa of AIDSO said that the State government is welcome to start Karnataka Public Schools as an alternative model and not by merging rural schools.

The State government is not worried about reducing the intake in government schools , issues like teacher vacancies, missing infrastructure and low quality of education in public schools, he said.

Studies have indicated that most of the dropouts are from deprived communities, particularly girls from backward and minority communities.

The State government has claimed that the main attraction of Karnataka Public Schools is the English-medium instruction. However, it has not made proper preparations to train teachers in English-medium instruction. The State government has not shown enthusiasm in filling the over 60,000 vacancies in government schools, he said.

Leaders Rajashekar S., Mahantesh Bilur, Arun, Eeranna, Vaibhav and other activists were present.