Over 1,300 unauthorised pvt schools identified in Karnataka

The Department of School Education and Literacy has identified 1,316 unauthorised private unaided schools across the state. It will file criminal cases against the school managements under the Karnataka Education Act 1983 for violating norms.

The department had ordered officials at the district level to crack down on such schools after a recent incident where a prominent school chain cheated parents in Bengaluru by offering CBSE education without affiliation from the board concerned.

The department will soon publish the list of unauthorised schools and make it available in the public domain in the interest of parents and other stakeholders.

As per data from the department, 63 schools don’t even have registration but enrolled students. As many as 74 schools upgraded classes without permission. Also, 95 are offering education under other boards though they have permission only for state board education. The number of schools offering English medium education despite permission to teach only in Kannada medium is 294.

Around 620 schools are on the list for running additional sections without permission, while 141 were identified for shifting schools without permission. Among districts, Bengaluru North is on top of the list with 485 unauthorised schools followed by Bengaluru South with 386, Tumakuru with 109 and Bengaluru Rural with 66.

The matter was discussed on the floor of the House. Replying to a question in the Legislative Council, School Education and Literacy Minister B C Nagesh, in a written reply, said on Monday that the department is designing software to document private unaided schools (across all boards).

Department officials, however, said it is an interim list which has to be updated.

Dr Vishal R, Commissioner, the Department of Public Instruction, said, “We are diligently looking at it. These were the numbers collated earlier and they are being verified.”

D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, raised objections to the department listing the additional sections opened by schools as illegal. “We have updated each and every data on the SATS website of the department, and even the department is allotting students under RTE quota to our schools. When this is the case, how can they call their additional sections as illegal,” he asked.