Mangaluru: The Karnataka State School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) Samanvaya Kendra Vedike has opposed the state government's proposal to encourage private educational institutions to adopt government schools under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework. The organisation has maintained that the responsibility for running and maintaining public schools rests with the government.
The proposal, aimed at improving infrastructure and educational facilities in government schools through private-sector participation, has raised concerns among representatives of school development committees over the role of private institutions in public education.
Speaking on the issue, Vedike state president Moidin Kutty said the organisation supported measures to monitor teacher attendance and teaching standards. However, he cautioned against using individual instances of shortcomings to question the performance of government school teachers as a whole or present private management as essential for improving public schools.
He said financial assistance from private institutions towards facilities such as drinking water, toilets, computer laboratories and playgrounds could help schools address infrastructure requirements. However, such contributions should not extend to giving private entities administrative control over government schools or their public assets.
The Vedike also expressed concern that using profits generated by private educational institutions to fund government schools could encourage the commercialisation of education. It argued that such an arrangement might indirectly provide grounds for private schools to increase student fees.
Referring to the Right to Education (RTE) Act, Kutty said the principle of making education accessible should remain central to decisions concerning public schools. He maintained that the government should make adequate budgetary provisions to ensure the development of all government schools rather than depend on contributions from private institutions.
The organisation also called for addressing existing administrative and academic challenges within the government school system. It sought the recruitment of teachers to fill vacant posts and urged the education department to reduce the deployment of teachers for non-academic responsibilities, including election and census duties.
According to the Vedike, these responsibilities can affect the time teachers are able to devote to classroom instruction and students' learning.
The organisation has demanded an immediate halt to the proposed school adoption scheme, assured budgetary allocations for every government school and safeguards to protect school land and other public assets.
The Karnataka government's initiative, Namma Shaale Namma Javabdari (Our School, Our Responsibility), seeks to involve private educational institutions and organisations in the development of government schools through CSR partnerships. The debate centres on how such collaborations can support infrastructure and learning facilities while retaining government responsibility and administrative oversight of public institutions.
The discussion brings attention to the need to balance private-sector participation with public accountability in the development of government schools.