<p>The Education department will set up kindergarten (pre-primary) schools in as many as 276 Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) across the state from the academic year 2019-20.</p>.<p>The initiative from the government comes as a huge relief for parents from economically weaker sections of society, who intend to provide pre-primary education to their wards, but cannot afford it at private educational institutions - which demand lakhs of rupees as fees. Hitherto, the state government did not provide pre-primary education at its schools and as a result parents were compelled to admit their wards to private educational institutions shelling out huge amount of money as fee.</p>.<p>Though the department of Women and Child Development runs anganwadi centers across the state, they do not provide formal pre-primary education. In fact, pre-primary education at state-run schools had been one of the long-pending demands of parents and academicians.</p>.<p>The chief minister has given his approval for the proposal and according to the department officials, a notification on calendar of events would be issued soon.</p>.<p>S R Umashankar, Principal Secretary to Primary and Secondary Education department, who confirmed the development, told <span class="italic">DH</span> that all necessary arrangements had been made for setting up of pre-primary schools and admission would soon begin.</p>.<p>“To begin with, we will introduce lower kindergarten (LKG) at government schools which will be upgraded to upper kindergarten (UKG) during 2020-21,” he said.</p>.<p>The department has already identified eligible teachers for pre-primary classes and even the syllabus has also been prepared. This year, these classes will be managed by hiring guest teachers who are trained in pre-school education.</p>
<p>The Education department will set up kindergarten (pre-primary) schools in as many as 276 Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) across the state from the academic year 2019-20.</p>.<p>The initiative from the government comes as a huge relief for parents from economically weaker sections of society, who intend to provide pre-primary education to their wards, but cannot afford it at private educational institutions - which demand lakhs of rupees as fees. Hitherto, the state government did not provide pre-primary education at its schools and as a result parents were compelled to admit their wards to private educational institutions shelling out huge amount of money as fee.</p>.<p>Though the department of Women and Child Development runs anganwadi centers across the state, they do not provide formal pre-primary education. In fact, pre-primary education at state-run schools had been one of the long-pending demands of parents and academicians.</p>.<p>The chief minister has given his approval for the proposal and according to the department officials, a notification on calendar of events would be issued soon.</p>.<p>S R Umashankar, Principal Secretary to Primary and Secondary Education department, who confirmed the development, told <span class="italic">DH</span> that all necessary arrangements had been made for setting up of pre-primary schools and admission would soon begin.</p>.<p>“To begin with, we will introduce lower kindergarten (LKG) at government schools which will be upgraded to upper kindergarten (UKG) during 2020-21,” he said.</p>.<p>The department has already identified eligible teachers for pre-primary classes and even the syllabus has also been prepared. This year, these classes will be managed by hiring guest teachers who are trained in pre-school education.</p>