There has been immense progress in the state education sector, with the launching of many reforms and innovative schemes and projects during the three years that the BJP government has been in power.
There has been immense progress in the state education sector, with the launching of many reforms and innovative schemes and projects during the three years that the BJP government has been in power.
In primary and secondary education, the department of public instructions has taken many measures to attract students to schools, while the higher education department too has implemented several student-friendly measures.
One successful programme launched by the state government is providing free bicycles to Class 8 students. In the first year, the programme was restricted to girl students and in the next it was extended to boys too. But there has been criticism of the free bicycle programme, mostly on the floor of the houses.
Following allegations in the legislative council, a joint house committee was constituted to conduct an inquiry. The committee though, gave the minister concerned a clean chit in its report submitted a few months ago.
Another successful programme is free textbooks to schoolchildren. Earlier, students till Class 8 were eligible for free textbooks, but now it has been extended till Class 10. Even free uniforms are being provided to children in primary schools.
In the past three years, the government has recruited a record number of primary school teachers. In 2010, about 2.500 primary and secondary school teachers were recruited to overcome the shortage of teachers.
When it comes to higher education sector, the decision of the Karnataka Examinations Authority to de-centralise the counselling process of the Common Entrance Test (CET) won applause from the countryside.
CET counselling, which used to be held only in Bangalore, has now been extended to seven more cities, saving students and parents the trouble of coming down all the way to the state capital.
The higher education department’s decision to carve out a poor meritorious quota to help engineering education aspirants from economically weaker sections has also been path breaking.
Under the quota, students who secure up to 20,000th rank in CET and whose annual family income is below Rs2 lakh are eligible for seats in undergraduate engineering courses and the government subsidises up to Rs10,000 of the fee. This has helped several students from economically weaker sections pursue their higher education dreams.
Several new universities dedicated exclusively to Sanskrit, music, horticulture, folk studies and legal education have been set up. Following the government’s emphasis on private varsities, Ajim Premji University and Alliance Business School have also been set up.
Mysore and Hampi varsities have received the innovative university status. Karnataka has its own knowledge commission on the lines of the National Knowledge Commission. A higher education council has been put in place to guide universities.
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