Karnataka's Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai, announced on Friday, January 27th that state-run residential schools that have been in operation for 10 years will now offer PUC (Pre-university courses) on their premises starting in the next academic year. He also emphasised the importance of these schools conducting competitive exams to prepare students for job challenges after graduation.
Bommai called for an end to the practice of using government funds to construct school buildings primarily for the benefit of contractors. Instead, he emphasized the importance of improving the quality of education. During the inauguration of the 'Science Expo-2023' of the Karnataka Residential Education Institution Society (KREIS) at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru, he announced that residential schools that have been in operation for 10 years will now offer PUC (Pre-university courses) for their students starting in the next academic year, as per a PTI report.
He argued that quality education will suffer if students have to move to different schools for their PUC education after completing Class X, and emphasised the importance of students continuing their PUC education at the same residential school where they completed their 10th standard.
Conduct competitive exams in these schools among the children. We have provided them with a level playing field to find out the shortcomings among the children so that it can be set right and their capacity is increased," the chief minister said. He pointed out that students at Morarji Desai Residential schools and other residential schools that are run by the government are quite sharp and got admission by scoring above 60% to 70%.
He said the target of the government is to ensure that these students score 90% by the time they complete their education. The Chief Minister took a swipe at the tendency of spending more money on constructing buildings, which benefits contractors. "We spend thousands of crores of rupees on these institutions. We are spending more on buildings and compound walls," Bommai said and insisted that the focus should be on the "requirements" of the students studying in these residential schools stated the PTI report.
Bommai said, "Stop giving money to the contractors. Change that model itself.” According to him, the spending on building schools had started from Rs five crore, which escalated to Rs 10 crore and Rs 14 crore and now it has reached a stage where the government spends Rs 30 crore on each school. "Spend Rs 30 crore on the arrangements (facilities) for children. On the one hand, government money is draining and on the other, the arrangements required for the children are not happening," he said.
Bommai accused previous administrations of wasting money on building schools rather than raising the standards of instruction. We have arrived at this point as a result of the previous government's decision to pursue "This is a legacy that has come from the past from the previous governments to take up 'contractor-based civil works' due to which we have reached this stage," the speaker claimed.
Bommai stated that since children from the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward castes attend these schools, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that education is of a high standard. He gave the go-ahead for them to compile a list of the issues with the schools and promised that the government would provide grants. Additionally, Bommai instructed officials to go to schools rather than "running administration" from Bengaluru, stated the PTI report.
