Page 20 - EW may 2026

Education News

aided HEIs. Kannada), deficit of pre-
Comments Prof. Anand primary classes, teacher
Prakash Mishra, Dean of the top- shortages, and non-provi-
ranked Jindal Global Law School of sion of labs, laboratories
the O.P. Jindal Global University, and lavatories in govern-
Sonipat: “The Bar Council of India’s ment schools.
rule mandating 70 percent class- The state’s Congress
room/lectures attendance needs government led by chief
review if not abolition. These days, minister Siddaramaiah,
students have numerous online, now in its third year in of-
library, peer discussion among other fice, promises to address
learning options. They should have these lacunae through its
the discretion of not attending the “eight education guar-
classes of faculty not up to their ex- Government school students: belated guarantees antees”. The guarantees
pectation and needs. This judgement include provision of one
of the Delhi high court should be out new guarantees for government teacher per class in pri-
welcomed as it also puts pressure on schools. mary school (classes I-V) and sub-
faculty to improve their teaching so Confronted with steadily declin- ject-specific teachers from class VI
that students willingly attend classes. ing student enrolment in the state’s onwards; introduction of optional
In higher education, it is reasonable 49,300 government schools, on April English-medium stream in all govern-
to expect students to be aware of 27, the state government splashed full ment schools; free public transport for
their responsibilities.” front-page advertisements in leading students attending clustered, better
By affirming that students should newspapers announcing a package of furbished Karnataka Public Schools
not be barred from academic pro- eight “education guarantees” to up- (KPS); provision of IT education with
gression merely for choosing how — grade the state’s public education sys- dedicated teachers and early exposure
or whether — to attend lectures, the tem. Significantly, the announcement to digital and AI learning; appoint-
Delhi high court ruling has nudged was timed a day after declaration of ment of arts, music and physical edu-
the system towards maturity. It the class X SSLC (Secondary School cation instructors to support holistic
acknowledges a simple but usually Leaving Certificate) results, which development; recruitment of separate
ignored principle that adult learn- recorded a 14.06 percent increase in non-teaching staff to reduce teachers’
ers in higher education don’t need pass percentage, up from 80.4 percent administrative burden, and the intro-
school-level monitoring. India’s in 2025-26 to 94.1 percent this year. duction of skill-based education from
higher education system enrolls mil- The high-visibility “education class VI plus additional tuition for
lions of adult learners, yet continues guarantees” campaign is an initiative competitive examinations. The gov-
to operate with school-level controls. of the Congress government to restore ernment has set a target of increasing
This judgement is an overdue push confidence in government schools af- enrolment in government schools to 5
in the right direction. ter three years of steady fall in enrol- million students within five years.
Autar Nehru (Delhi) ments. The number of children sign- t’s a measure of the casual attitude
ing up with government schools has Iof government ministers and offi-
KARNATAKA been steadily declining — from 4.54 cials towards public education which
Education window million in 2022-23 to 4.29 million bottom-of-pyramid households are
obliged to avail — most ministers
in 2023-24 and further to 4 million
dressing in 2024-25 — a 10 percent decline in and bureaucrats enroll their children
three years with a growing number of
in Karnataka’s show-piece private
parents preferring to admit their chil- schools, some of which are of global
fter successfully rolling out dren in the state’s estimated 19,000 standard — that these modest guar-
its five popular election guar- BPS (budget private schools) that of- antees commonplace worldwide, are
Aantees — 200 units of free fer — or claim to offer — superior Eng- expected to win the Congress party
electricity per household; 10 kg of rice lish-medium education whereas gov- the next assembly election due in May
per person to below poverty line (BPL) ernment primaries provide Kannada 2028.
households; free bus travel for wom- or “mother tongue” as the medium The main obligation of the guaran-
en; Rs.2,000 per month for women of instruction. Official explanations tees is recruitment of teachers — one
heads of households, and Rs.3,000 for for the exodus — placed on record in teacher per class upto class V, sepa-
unemployed graduates — Karnataka’s the state assembly — include absence rate teachers for computers, music,
Congress government has now rolled of bilingual instruction (English and art, and physical education, introduc-

20 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2026