Moral Science will be part of the curriculum in schools from this academic year, and it will not be restricted to one particular religion. The essence of all religions, including Panchatantra, Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhavagad Gita, Quran and others, will be part of moral studies. But what will be taught will be decided by the religion that 90 per cent of the students belong to. A committee will decide the curriculum and there will be no exams for the subject, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh said here on Tuesday, April 19.

"Though there is no demand from madrasas or the minority community, parents have asked us to provide regular education to madrasa students, like in other schools, so that they can compete with other children, take professional courses and competitive exams," informed BC Nagesh.

Preparatory classes, Kalika Chetharike will focus on teaching students through song and dance, will begin on May 16 to improve the quality of learning among school children, which has dropped due to the lack of offline classes during the pandemic. Regular classes will begin on June 1 and students will have less homework as per the National Education Policy, the minister added.

Model schools will be set up by merging multiple schools in a single village or village panchayat to improve the quality of education. The state has 2,300 such schools and some of them have already started functioning in Ramanagar district and are receiving good responses, he said.

On providing stitched uniforms to government school students, the minister said that the Karnataka High Court has directed the government to give at least a stitched second set. After calling for tenders, the price has been reduced from Rs 250 per uniform to Rs 182, the minister added.