Bahutva Karnataka, a citizens' group, has demanded the resignation of the Government of Karnataka's Education Minister BC Nagesh for his alleged failure in fulfilling his ministerial role. "We condemn his mishandling of education during the COVID crisis, failure to address malnutrition and his complicity in weaponising education," they said.
The pandemic has resulted in a large number of students dropping out and increased learning gaps. The government's own data shows that of the 46,000 children who dropped out, only 35 per cent have rejoined school.
They said that the National Health and Family Welfare Survey shows that 35.4 per cent of children in Karnataka suffer from stunting and 32.9 per cent are underweight. Though several institutions have suggested eggs be given to school students, Nagesh and his ministry have failed to implement it on all five days of the week, citing pressures of "casteist, religious groups".
They said the unprofessional, unscientific and casteist textbook revision process violates Section 29 of the Right to Education Act. The removal of works of Dalit authors P Lankesh and Sara Aboobacker and distortion of historical facts related to Dr Ambedkar and Basavanna violate the National Curriculum Framework, they said.
