Coronavirus: No fund earmarked for primary, secondary education department under CM B S Yediyurappa's relief package

MLC Ivan D’Souza alleged that the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s economic relief package has not earmarked any fund for the primary and secondary education department.

The government is not equipped to start online education in government schools. The internet coverage is only 20 % in Karnataka, he told media persons on Friday. In such a scenario, it is not right to speak about online education for children. The government should understand the mindset of poor children who are denied the basic facilities and what trauma they will undergo when they are unable to attend online classes, he said.

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According to the data available with the Principal Secretary of Primary and Secondary Education department, 20.37 lakh children from backward classes, 5.9 lakh from minority, 10.85 lakh from SC, 4 lakh from ST and 1.08 lakh children from general category are pursuing their studies in schools in Karnataka. He asked if the government looked at only general category children when it decided to reopen the schools.

When there is a rise in COVID-19 cases, how will parents send their children to the schools? The government should come out with a definite policy on school reopening rather than creating confusion in the minds of the people, he demanded.

Several private schools have been pressurising the parents to purchase books, pay a fee and buy required gazettes for starting online education. Did the government bow to pressure from private schools run by politicians on reopening of the schools? he asked.

The MLC also flayed the government for inviting applications under the RTE Act for admissions to schools. At a time when migrant labourers have returned to their native, it is not right on the part of the government to call for applications.

Poor quality of bicycles

The MLC said that Legislative Council Committee on Backward Classes and Minority Welfare in its report submitted on March 19 to the Council had clarified that the bicycles distributed to the school children in Karnataka is of poor quality. The distributed cycle is not worth Rs 3,500. The Council Committee had recommended the government to constitute a committee at the district and taluk levels to probe into the quality of the bicycles distributed during 2019-20, he demanded.

More than 10,000 cycles have been distributed for children in Dakshina Kannada district. Instead of calling for a centralised tender, it is better to call for tender at the district-level to distribute bicycles to school children, he urged.