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the country’s estimated schools has dangerous con-
400,000 BPS which claim sequences. On July 29, 2021
to offer Inglish-medium while driving to his office
education, are the natural in the afternoon, he was at-
option of lower middle and tacked by machete-wielding
working class households goons. But when he pulled
determined to provide out his licensed revolver and
their children socio-eco- fired in the air, the goons took
nomic upward mobility. to their heels. An FIR has
Consequently the neta- been registered and police is
babu brotherhood and investigating.
educracy are making every “Over the past decades,
effort to delegitimise them corruption has struck deep
and force them into bank- roots in the education bu-
ruptcy and/or closure. Shashi Kumar: dangerous activism reaucracy of Karnataka.
Over the past almost 75 Laws, policies and regula-
years since independence, India has mar currently has eight writ petitions tions governing private schools have
legislated thousands of laws, rules questioning the vires and validity of been deliberately twisted for extor-
and regulations. Yet a curious feature several laws and government regula- tion and bribery. Right from registra-
of most of this legislation is that it is tions and notifications pending in the tion which requires clearance from
not applicable to the country’s gov- Supreme Court. Nor is this cranky, the land revenue, fire safety and PWD
ernment schools. A classic instance is frivolous litigation. In 2013, he won departments and completion of over
provided by s.19 (1) of the landmark a famous victory when the Supreme two dozen documents to be stamped
RTE Act, 2009. This section pre- Court struck down a notification is- and notarized, private school promot-
scribes minimum infrastructure pro- sued in 1994 which made Kannada the ers have to pay bribes at every stage of
vision including teacher-pupil-ratio, compulsory medium of primary edu- the process. After registration, recog-
classroom capacity, minimum size of cation in all schools statewide. This nition is required by exam boards and
kitchen for making mid-day meals, notification which enabled education local government. Moreover as against
storage space for cooking material, ministry officials to “earn millions for five years earlier, currently recogni-
number of toilets and a mandatory over two decades” for turning a blind tion or NOC (no objection certificate)
playing field for private schools as eye to English-medium schools openly has to be renewed every year. Con-
detailed in an elaborate Schedule of violating this diktat, was struck down sequently, promotion of greenfield
the Act, on pain of heavy monetary following a 19-year battle after the private schools has been choked, with
fines and forced closure. However, apex court held that parents — rather admissions into reputed top-ranked
the country’s 1.20 million government than the State — are best qualified to schools breeding further corruption,”
schools with an aggregate enrolment choose the medium of instruction of laments Shashi Kumar.
of 132 million children are exempt their children (see https://www.edu-
from the provisions of s.19 and the cationworld.in/karnataka-too-little- 4 TEACHER APPOINTMENTS IN
Schedule. Yet there’s hardly a squeak too-late/). GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
from left-liberal intellectuals about Shashi Kumar’s determined ac- lthough children’s learning out-
this glaring injustice. tivism to clean the augean stables of Acomes in government — spe-
One of the country’s most coura- K-12 education in Karnataka where cifically state and local government
geous and indefatigable crusaders every well-intentioned law, rule and schools that constitute 99 percent of
against official corruption which is regulation has been transformed into the country’s 1.2 million government
“destroying education day-by-day an opportunity to shake down private schools — compare unfavourably with
and blighting the future of hundreds private schools (as repeatedly high-
of millions of children” is D. Shashi The neta-babu brotherhood lighted in the annual ASER surveys
Kumar, general secretary of the of the Pratham Education Founda-
Karnataka Associated Managements and educracy are making tion), government school teachers' pay
of English Medium Schools (KAMS), every effort to delegitimise packages (determined by the Central
a representative association of 4,000 government Pay Commissions) tend
mostly affordable private schools in budget private schools and to be several multiples of teachers
Karnataka (pop.63 million). Also pro- force them into bankruptcy in private schools, especially budget
moter-director of Blossoms School, a private schools. Therefore in a low-
model BPS in Bengaluru, Shashi Ku- and/or closure growth economy where the number

FEBRUARY 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 39