Kannada medium teachers call off strike after minister’s assurance of grant-in-aid status

The teachers are said to have been getting an honorarium, and the status of an aided school would help them earn a salary which Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar assured
Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar (Photo | Nagaraja Gadekal)
Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar (Photo | Nagaraja Gadekal)

Hundreds of teachers of private Kannada medium schools called off their protest after Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar assured them of grant-in-aid status for their schools. These teachers are said to have been getting an honorarium, and the status of an aided school would help them earn a salary. “The education department’s demand was to give grant-in-aid status to private unaided Kannada medium schools, and this was discussed with the Chief Minister,” Kumar said.

He was speaking at an event with members of the association of Kannada medium schools in the state, Karnataka State Private Education Institutions Administrators Association, and representatives of various teachers’ organisation. Kumar said that a proposal was given to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, but due to the Covid crisis, no allocations were made for the same.

“Despite that, I held discussions with the chief minister about providing grant-in-aid status to 685 primary schools and 211 high schools of Kannada medium, that were established between 1995 and 2000,” he said, adding that he would make another attempt to speak to the CM. He said the department will need an estimated Rs 138.39 crore for this.

He said he would talk to the finance department about rolling out the ‘Jyoti Sanjivini’ health insurance scheme for aided and unaided private schools as well. Private unaided school and college teachers will be lifetime members of the State Teachers’ Benefit Fund, Kumar said here on Tuesday. The outline for enrolling private school teachers in the teachers’ welfare fund was being chalked out, and would be made official, he added. On the development of educational institutes in Kalyan Karnataka region, he said that senior officials will hold a meeting to gauge how it is possible to help private schools.

Renewal certificate

The minister said that private aided and unaided primary, high school and PU colleges which required their Renewal of Recognition certificates, were given re l i e f, the minister said. Hence a report on simplified basic safety norms has been sought by the S V Sankanoor Committee in four weeks.

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