Government school students sit on dharna demanding more teachers

MANDYA: Against the backdrop of the Karnataka government’s push to English-medium education in state-run schools – there is a proposal to open 1,000 English-medium schools – a protest staged by the students of higher primary Kannada-medium government school in Kodipura village, Malavalli taluk in Mandya set the ambitions of the government with the prevalent reality in stark relief. The students sat in a dharna decrying insufficient number of teachers at the school.
The school has classes from one to seven, and houses more than 200 students. However, the institution has just one teacher, who besides pedagogic duties, has to keep an eye on administrative issues such as midday meals and clerical matters.
While parents of the students pointed out that they had repeatedly raised the problem at the school with the officials of the education department, but to no avail. “We simply do not know how one teacher can handle all subjects to students from classes one to seven. This shows that the state government is not serious about ensuring good education to children studying in Kannada-medium schools in rural areas,” the parents rued.
The protesting students said that they would not attend classes unless the government provided adequate number of teachers for the school.