School Education in Karnataka 2018-19

Department of Primary and Secondary Education

School Education in Karnataka • 1 For detailed Educational Indicators for Karnataka, please visit: http://bit.do/kar-indicators

For a better understanding of Educational Indicators, please visit: http://bit.do/ncert-indicators2 • Government of Karnataka Overview

With over 77,000 schools, 1.03 crore students and 3 lac teachers, The Department of Primary and Secondary Education has undertaken various initiatives to improve the quality of education in the state. These efforts are made possible due to the collaborative efforts of the teachers, functionaries, civil society organizations and other stakeholders. All the initiatives are undertaken with an aim to improve access, equity and to ensure all students are learning well. Due to the sustained efforts in the last 3-4 years, we are seeing a gradual improvement in a few indicators across the districts. E.g. Greater understanding of the learning levels through the C-SAS and SSLC results across the districts. This year initiatives such as the launch of English Medium and Pre-Primary Sections in the schools, revitalizing Special education and Karnataka Public Schools have been undertaken to further improve access and strengthen the government schooling system. The document is aimed to help the reader get an overall view of public education in the state of Karnataka. This report has three parts –

(ii) Key initiatives that have been undertaken by the department, and (i) Educational profile of the state on some key indicators from 2018-19,

(iii) Case studies showcasing good practices from the field.

School Education in Karnataka • 3 Section 1 Education Profile of the State

1. Performance Grade Indicators (PGIs)

The Performance Grade Indicators are a 70-point Grading Index for assessing schooling systems across states. The Index assesses the states on a 1,000 point grading system. The PGIs are aimed at helping states understand where they may be lagging behind and prioritise areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level.

Domain Total Weight National Avg. Karnataka

75% 50% Learning outcomes 25% and quality 180 137 160

75% 50% 25% Access outcomes 80 65 69

75% 50% Infrastructure 25% and facilities 150 96 100

75% 50% 25% Equity outcomes 230 205 212

75% 50% Governance 25% processes 360 190 165

75% 50% 25% Total 1000 693 706

4 • Government of Karnataka 2. Key Educational Indicators

Schools and enrollment across all institutions Govt Private - Public & Private ↓ Aided Others*

48,210 7,256 19,769 1,501 Schools

76,744 schools in Karnataka

43,79,254 13,36,556 44,01,309 2,60,261 Enrollments

1,03,77,380 enrollments in Karnataka

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 %1 %100 %

of schools in of enrollments % Karnataka % in Karnataka 72 are funded by 55 are in schools the Department funded by the of Education. Department of

Education. Schoools Govt. Schools and Central Department Tribal / Social Welfare *Others - include

Enrollment from pre-primary to secondary education ↓

50,943 165741 86804 60 teachers teachers teachers

55,03,960 50

40

30 Anganwadis 30,72,836 run by the WCD also caters to 20 the same 18,00,674 age group ↓ No. of Enrollments (in Lakhs) 10 5,97,346

0 Pre - Primary Primary Upper Primary Secondary LKG & UKG Grade 1-5 Grade 6-8 Grade 9-10 (3-5y) (6-10y) (11-13y) (14-15y)

School Education in Karnataka • 5 Primary Upper Primary Secondary (Grade 1 - 5) (Grade 6 - 8) (Grade 9 -10)

Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total

1. Net Enrolment Ratio 97.65 96.21 96.96 82.68 84.14 83.38 65.40 67.38 66.34

2. Retention Rate 95.95 95.95 95.95 98.38 98.45 98.41 90.19 92.06 91.09

3. Transition Rate 100.12 100.21 100.16 99.79 99.49 99.65 92.1 95.69 93.8

4. Avg Annual Dropout 0.99 0.85 0.92 1.21 1.97 1.58 9.74 6.23 8.08

5. Promotion Rate 99.01 99.15 99.08 98.79 98.03 98.42 90.26 93.77 91.92

• The Net Enrolment Ratio for a given level of education expressed as a percentage of the corresponding population. This is a very important indicates indicatorthe enrolment in measuring of the official rates age-groupof Access to Education. For e.g. In Karnataka, with NER in Secondary education at 66.34%. It

education, only 66 were enrolled in school. shows that out of every 100 students within the official age group of secondary • The Retention Rate indicates the percentage of students who remain at a school after they begin studying there. A high retention rate suggests that the school provides a supportive environment to the student to continue his studies. In Karnataka, the retention rates are high at the Primary and Upper Primary level. • The Transition Rate indicate the percentage of students who have transitioned from one level of education to the next. A high transition level indicates a high level of access and vice versa. The transition rates at Primary school level are above 100 due to new enrollments.

6 • Government of Karnataka 3. Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR)

in Right to Education norms → Pupil-Teacher Ratio specified 1:30 1:35 Primary Upper Primary

PTR across all institutions ↓

Elementary Secondary

Govt 22.5 13.0

Aided 70.4 30.6

Private 34.7 16.5

Others 59.7 21.6

Overall PTR for working teachers across each stage of education ↓ 15.7 24.8 22.4 17.3 Primary Upper Primary Elementary Secondary

School Education in Karnataka • 7 4. Student-Classroom Ratio

The Student Classroom Ratio shows the average number of students per classroom in primary/upper primary/secondary schools in a given school-year. This is often used as a proxy for adequate infrastructure (number of classrooms in the school).

Student-Classroom Ratio across all institutions ↓

Elementary Secondary

Govt 18.0 26.0

Aided 33.0 25.0

Private 28.0 22.0

Others 39.0 33.0

• Government of Karnataka

8 5. Enrollments A. Gender-wise Enrollments

Enrollments across institutions, by education level ↓ Govt Aided Private Others No. of enrollments (in lahks) enrollments No. of

Gender distribution across all Govt. 48 52 schools (Grade 1-10) → Aided 52 48

Boys Girls Private 56 44

Others 48 52

Grand Total 52 48

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Gender Parity Index: 0.98 1.02 1.00 Primary Upper Primary Elementary Grades 1-5 Grades 6-8 Grades 1-8

The Gender Parity Index (GPI) indicates parity between girls and boys. A GPI of less than 1 suggests girls are more disadvantaged than boys in learning opportunities and a GPI of greater than 1 suggests the other way around.

School Education in Karnataka •

9 B. Grade-wise Enrollments Govt Private

Grade-wise categorization of institutions ↓ Aided Others

Total number 12 3 of enrollments 82 7 ,7 74 across grades 10 ,610 77 90,682 11,27 11,05,053 11,02, 10, 10, ,844 ,81,551

(in lakhs) → 10,56,40

8 10,34,878 9 ,47 9

6 8,52,830 ,361 97

4 5,

2

0 G 1 4 5 7 8 9

Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade G & UK Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 6 Grade 10 LK

10 • Government of Karnataka C. Social Category-wise Enrollments Govt Aided

This graph clearly shows that the most underprivileged social Private groups access the Government Schools ↓ Others

1,34,663 91,037 9,97,628 35,884 General

26,42,783 8,63,207 27,44,489 1,13,032 OBC

11,06,513 2,87,669 4,94,580 77,804 SC

4,95,295 94,643 1,64,612 33,541 ST

5,82,084 22,85,80 7,78,969 26,746 Muslims

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 %1 00 %

School Education in Karnataka • 11 6. Teacher Numbers

Primary Upper Primary Secondary 50,943 165,751 86,804 teachers teachers teachers

Gender distribution of Men teachers across institutions and education levels: Women

Govt 52 48 46 54 47 53

Aided 60 40 70 31 56 44

Private 23 78 35 65 32 68

Others 51 49 53 47 53 47

0% 20% 40% 60%8 0% 100% 0% 20% 40%6 0% 80% 100% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Primary Upper Primary Secondary

Number of teachers across institutions and Govt Private education levels: Aided Others

120 120,986

90

60 4 ,048 39,51 37 36,023 33,984 30 92 No. of Teachers (in thousands) No. of Teachers 13,7 10,627 5,445 3005 2272 442 0 360 Primary Upper Primary Secondary

12 • Government of Karnataka 7. Learning Achievement

A. National Achievement Survey (NAS)

Achievement by Classes and Subjects ↓ Karnataka 100 National

78 80 74 75 71 68 68 67 65 64 63 57 58 57 60 53 51 51 42 44 40

20

0 EVS Lang Math EVS Lang Math EVS Lang Math

Class 3 Class 5 Class 8

B. Census-based State Achievement Survey (C-SAS)

Languages Core Subjects EVS / Social Grade L1 L2 L3 Maths Science Studies Overall 4 72 66 - 70 71 - 70 5 67 70 - 72 77 - 71 6 71 69 64 63 66 68 67 7 73 71 61 64 63 66 66 8 66 54 58 61 53 58 58 9 71 51 65 59 48 66 60 10 66 49 52 53 58 67 58 Overall 70 62 60 64 63 65 63

< 55 Red 55-70 Orange The findings from the C-SAS are mostly in line the Remedial program that is run by the state and > 70 Green alsowith plan the NAS. other The interventions findings help to inimprove the design learning. of

Languages – Kannada/English/Urdu/Hindi/Marathi/Tamil depending on the region

School Education in Karnataka • 13 Section 2 Key Initiatives of the Department

1. Karnataka Public Schools (KPS)

KPS is an initiative introduced by the Department of Education, GoK to address the quality of education and the falling enrolment in government schools. These schools will provide an integrated education from the pre-primary level to the pre-university level to students under the same institution. The Department will ensure that the KPS schools will have adequate infrastructure, Labs, teaching and non-teaching staff and other resources that will enable the imparting of quality education. Separate organizational rules and guidelines for these schools are being prepared. Presently 176 schools have been selected as KPS with further addition of another 100 schools

been developed for the KPS schools. in 2019-20, taking the total number to 276 KPS Schools. An online portal has also

14 • Government of Karnataka 2. English Medium

The Department has planned to start English medium classes along with the existing Kannada medium in 1000 government Schools. English-medium classes will be

a phased manner. The bilingual textbooks, MRP training, module development for MRPintroduced training, in classteacher 1 in handbook 2019-20. andThe resource expansion book, will toolshappen and incrementally processes for and teacher in needs analysis have been completed. The teacher training by districts are underway with support from the Regional Institute of English, Bengaluru. Further preparations are underway on strategy for supporting these 1000 schools in the coming one year through onsite support and handholding. These schools will place equal importance to the development of the student’s language skills in their mother tongue.

3. Pre-primary

With a view to improving access to Early Childhood Education, The Department of Education has planned to start pre-primary grades in selected schools in the coming year. In this regard, the SSK is working closely with the Women and Child Welfare Department (WCD), UNICEF and other partner NGOs for the preparation of the curriculum for pre-primary, norms for Teacher recruitment, Curriculum design,

Teacher Handbook, Infrastructure norms and Nutritional aspects for 2019-20 rollout. 4. Special Education

ReadinessThis year 77851 Program students (SRP) wereCenters, identified 7742 were as Children covered with through Special the Needs Home-based (CWSN) Education.from Grade The 1 to approach 10. Out of is these, to ensure 70109 the were Inclusion regularly of Children going to with Schools Special and Needs School within the Schools. There are presently 4 teachers per block as Block Education Resource Teachers (BIERTS) and around 204 active SRP centers in the state. In

e.g. few of the areas that are being attempted - increase the number of teachers to 6 2019-20, the plan is to reimagine the approach to Special education in the state. For closely with various department such as the Health Department for Screening, the per block, a Teacher training curriculum to address the field level changes, working Fourth Wave Foundation etc. office of the state commissioner for persons with disabilities and partner NGOs like

School Education in Karnataka • 15 5. Shaala Sidhi

In 2018 – 19, the 1st phase of Shaala Siddhi was implemented successfully in the selected4826 schools for external that had evaluation. been selected The usingShaala purposive siddhi materials random published sampling bymethod NUEPA havethrough also SATS been for translated School evaluation. into Kannada 10% and of theseUrdu forschools wider i.e. consumption 494 schools amongwere the stakeholders. Capacity building programs for various resource persons were undertaken. All the schools covered under Shaala Sidhi have created their account

exercise is being used as an input for planning and monitoring of the various schemesin Shaala thatSiddhi are website being undertaken with their DISEby the code. department. The findings The fromKarnataka the Shaala School siddhi Quality Assessment & Accreditation Council (KSQAAC) is the implementing agency for Shaala Siddhi.

6. Census-based State Achievement Survey

The Census - based State Achievement Survey (C-SAS) is conducted with an aim to assess the quality of education in all Government and Government aided schools. Covering nearly 40.7 lakh students, C-SAS assesses the learning levels in Languages and Core Subjects (Languages, Mathematics, EVS / Science and Social Science) for the Grades 4 to 10. The results are disseminated in the form of individual report cards to each student duly signed by the Head teacher of the school. An appreciation letter from Honorable Chief Minister to all parents has been sent this year. The survey indicates the learning levels of each student and school on the basis of prescribed learning outcomes developed by NCERT. Through this effort, the teachers are able to identify and support students who would need

from C-SAS are also being used inadditional the policy support. planning The exercise findings undertaken by the Department. For e.g. Understand cluster, block, district-wise learning levels and the interventions needed. The Guru Chethana Modules also takes cognizance of C-SAS and modules are prepared accordingly.

16 • Government of Karnataka Lang 1 Lang 2 Science Maths

Class K U A K U A K U A K U A

4 74 72 72 70 73 56 78 74 61 75 72 66

5 72 64 68 74 69 71 70 79 79 74 72 71

6 78 68 73 72 70 69 74 62 66 74 64 57

7 76 69 79 72 66 80 73 63 57 60 69 59

8 64 66 68 56 54 52 52 53 53 61 62 59

9 72 77 68 53 51 46 55 49 43 66 59 55

10 67 69 65 54 44 51 65 58 51 53 54 52

Census-based State Achievement Survey <55 K Knowledge U Understanding A Application

The students’ performance is also gauged based on domains such as knowledge, understanding and application based. A sample of last year’s C-SAS at the state level is given above. The C-SAS results have been in line with the NAS and this challenges

the Annual large scale learning surveys conducted by certain NGOs. some of the findings of learning levels in Government schools that are put forward by

7. Guru Chethana

This is a unique grounds-up effort to revamp the teacher in-service system in Karnataka. It is based on globally accepted principles of good Teacher Professorial Development – for e.g. that teachers should get to choose what is most relevant to them, the program responds to issues they face in their schools and is offered on a continuous basis. A curriculum framework of in-service teacher education has been developed along with 42 modules for the teacher training in English, Kannada, Marathi and Urdu. This also includes the Teacher Tracking and Management System

programs and courses. This system includes the availability of teacher training data, training(TTMS), calendars,a platform trainingto enable material, teachers assessment to make specific by trainers choices and from teacher a host feedback. of Over 1,50,000 teachers have been covered under Guru Chethana program since its inception in 2017. The Cluster Level Sharing meetings are also being used as a platform to engage the teachers as a follow up to the Guru Chethana Program.

School Education in Karnataka • 17 8. Technology-Assisted Learning Programme

Technology - Assisted Learning Programme (TALP) was launched with an objective to complement the classroom teaching with ICT enabled teaching and learning in all subjects. To achieve this, the program aims to train all high school teachers in the use of ICT in schools. Based on the curriculum developed by NCERT, detailed content and modules contextualized to Karnataka were developed. A rich repository of e-content has also been created under Creative Commons and is uploaded on the DIKSHA portal. A Moodle platform has also been developed for self-learning and assessments under the TALP. One of the component of TALP is the training of teachers in ICT which has three levels of induction programs and two sets of refresher courses. The Teacher training content focuses on learning tools useful to the classroom and for the teacher’s own learning. Launched in 2016 with 11 State Resource persons training 136

far. The IT infrastructure is also made available in the schools which have TALP trained teachers.MRP’s, close A repository to 13076 Teachersof all e-contents and 1944 will schools be made have available been covered on the servers under TALP located so at State Data Centre and schools will be connected to SDC for updates.

100 Gradual adoption of ICTs by trained teachers in their regular classes. 80 75.22 60 %

40 41.16 % 20

0 2017-18 2018-19

9. NGO Partnerships

The Department of Education has also partnered with various NGOs to improve the quality of learning in the state. A few key initiatives are – a. Odu Karnataka (READ KARNATAKA) a learning improvement program in partnership with Pratham 5.2 lac students; which is operational in 13 districts benefiting close to b. Ganitha Kalika Andolana in partnership with Akshara Foundation to aid Math learning an activity-based approach. The program has been implemented in 20 districts covering 11744 schools and around 7.5 lac students. A key element is the Community and Grama Panchayat’s involvement in the program. c. Prerana in partnership with Shikshana Foundation for the motivational model

23 Lac children. An in-house Mobile App has also been developed for the program. program to all the 43,897 Government Primary Schools impacting approximately

18 10. Viswasa Kirana

The Viswasa Kirana programme is held during the mid-term vacation to bridge

Wide Achievement Survey in all Government Schools. Various activities like reading, writing,and improve interactive the learning sessions, gaps storytelling, of Grade 4-9 quiz, students essay andidentified SSLC preparation through the are State undertaken as per the needs of the children. This Programme was conducted in 535 centres covering around 24000 students during the midterm holidays and Sundays in all the districts this year.

11. Besige Sambhrama

‘Besige Sambhrama’ is a state-wide camp based intervention for children of Std. 6 and 7 grades across all the districts in Karnataka. The program was implemented in 6427 schools from 156 taluks which are declared as drought hit in the state.

are to support and bridge the children in learning how to read, perform basic mathThis summer operations activity and involveis targeted in the to processbenefit over of learning. 3 lakh children. The duration The key of the objectives camp is approximately 30 days. A baseline and end line assessment data along with monitoring visits were undertaken to ensure the effectiveness of the program.

12. Nali Kali

Nali-Kali (NK) is an activity-based, multilevel learning and a self-paced system creative learning approach implemented from Grade 1-3 in all the Kannada and Urdu Medium Government schools. Although the program has been around for a long time, the curriculum and the materials have undergone revisions. Such efforts are possible NGO Partnerships due to the state level ‘Nali Kali Cell’, which was set up to plan, implement and monitor the quality of the NK Program in the state. The cell has undertaken many activities to improve NK such as Teacher trainings on the revised materials, training of BRC & CRPs, formation of DRG-BRGs as resource groups at the District and Block level to support the teachers and functionaries to implement, monitor supply of TLMs and workbooks, development and supply of teacher guidance manual, etc. The cell has also undertaken the Macro and Micro study to assess the quality of implementation of Nali Kali in all the Schools.

School Education in Karnataka •

19 a. The Macro study looks at basic and mandatory aspects such as the status of material distribution, orientation of teachers, preparation of the classrooms and other implementation related aspects of the programme. b. The Micro study looks at the classroom level teaching-learning activities.

c. The number findings of teachers from the for Macro Nali Kaliand orMicro capturing study wasthe bestused practices to strengthen in schools the Nali scoring Kali process in certain areas for e.g. the identification of schools without an adequate

high in the study. A finding from the Macro level study is given below - Units that Units that Classes Units with a meet all Total Nali integrate taught by class pupil 3 non - Kali Units with grades trained ratio of 1:30 negotiable 1 - 3 teachers criteria

Karnataka 53459 52421 40613 52692 39814

Percentage 98.05% 76% 98.6% 74.5%

13. Nali Kali English

In line with the government intention of improving the quality of English education and bringing state schools on par with national standards, SSK along with the UNICEF & RIE have been working collaboratively to develop a curriculum for Nali Kali in English. The roll out of the curriculum includes a process of piloting that is completed for each grade in one year. The pilot phase started in October 2016 and is expected to be completed for all 3 grades by March 2021. The steps include: a. Development and production of the material which will be done one year at a time b. Training and capacity development and development of a core team of state-level trainers c. Trialing the material for one year in about 100 units in 3 districts of the state d. Consistent feedback, review of material and evaluation of learning outcomes.

section of Karnataka Public Schools. The complete set of materials for grade I & II alongAfter thewith pilot the inrevisions 100 Nali is kali completed. Units from July 2018, now it is extended to Nali Kali

20 • Government of Karnataka 14. Children Festival

Makkala Habba is a state level

enquiryChildren’s – to festival engage which in asking reflects the questionsfundamentals – why of andscientific how. The activities are planned to engage on concepts through interactive, observational and hands-on methods. The festival mode also helps to draw the community to engage in the theme. Events during the festival include Teacher and student science experiments, Interactions with Scientists, cultural events and so on. All the students who had come from various taluks and districts had the experience of staying with their friends locally. Bharat

locations where 150-200 students participated in each of the locations. Gnan Vignan Samithi (BGVS) led the programme in 2018 organising in more than 40 15. Creation of Activity Books

NCERT books have been introduced from Grade 6 which will be progressively Nali Kali English implemented up to Grade 10 over the years. The development of activity books for students was undertaken to supplement the students learning. The workbook for Grade 6 and 7 has been developed and is being piloted in the Adarsha Vidyalaya. The objective of the pilot is also to review the workbooks based on the experience of the

students and teachers. The preparation of workbooks for Grade 8 and 9 is underway. 16. Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS)

The SATS is an attempt to digitize the records of the Department of Education and has become a base platform to expand the ambit of the performance monitoring of students, teachers, and schools. The system enabled the state to track drop outs, eliminate duplications in grant in aided schools, academic progress of each student,

needs, incentive distribution, monitor school health program etc. Based on the phasepromotion 1 experience, to next standard, the Department issue transfer of Education certificates, conducted track childrenmeetings with with special different departments and stakeholders viz. Health for child health program, Women and Child for nutrition-related programs, Revenue for Aadhar validations, Food and civil supplies for mid-day meals supplies, Social justice for scholarships and caste related

databenefits, of every Transport child and for distributionavoid overlaps of busand passes,potential etc. duplications. to draw a list There of additional are around 27required planned functionalities. modules under This phase will help2 and the 3. department have a single linked verified

School Education in Karnataka • 21 17. Samudayadatta Shale

The objective of the program is to engage the larger community members to become active stakeholders in the functioning of the school. This is held twice a year to discuss the students learning levels and the proposed activities to improve them, dropouts and their re-enrolment, Infrastructural issues and any other activities which are critical to the functioning of the school. The Staff of the school, SDMC members and Cluster functionaries play an active role in making the Samudayadatta Shale successful.

18. Mid-day Meal Quality Assurance

The Government of Karnataka has initiated an exercise of strengthening and improving the quality assurance system of the mid-day meals. As Phase I of the exercise, multiple actions were taken to:

relevant people a. Improve the processes by defining Standard Operating Procedures and training all b. Build a system of monitoring and quality assurance through a system of rigorous

nextscientific phase. sampling and Testing of the mid-day meals. This initiative piloted in 2 districts and will be rolled out to 8 more districts in the

22 • Government of Karnataka Samudayadatta Shale Section 3 Spotlight

1. A TALP Case Study

After 15 years, a teacher reinvents his classroom using technology. Harsha S, Asst Master in Physics and mathematics, Govt High School, Hedathale, Nanjanagud, Mysore. Email - [email protected]

Harsha, who has been a teacher for the last 15 years has seen the complementary role technology has played in his Teaching. He believes that with adequate preparation by the teacher, technology in classrooms can help the students handle

through the traditional method of teaching. abstract concepts which otherwise would have been difficult for them to follow The TALP program sparked an interest in him to explore the role ICT could play to improve his Teaching. He has also been religiously documenting his learning journey

applications and programs like GeoGebra, Stellarium, Scratch, PhET etc. His students always– from MSlook Word forward and toMS his Powerpoint classes as inhe 2008-09, makes use Harsha of the hasdigital progressed resources on prepared to using by him during the lessons. He has also gone on to restart his computer lab which was being unutilised for the last 5 years by using 5 Raspberry Pi devices which were donated to his school. Through the lab, he is trying to build the computer literacy among his students which is a core objective of the TALP program. In his spare time, Harsha operates a YouTube channel –hardeepmysore, where the e-resources prepared by him are posted. He has also developed a mobile application by the name SCIENCE POLE with his friends (available in Google Play store). The app helps the users seek answers to questions they may have on science in their daily lives. Harsha is just one among several teachers who have leveraged TALP and have used technology to complement their teaching so that students learn better.

Through the TALP training, I got an opportunity to expose myself to the various applications and platforms “ through which I was able to make effective use of the available ICT resources and create an effective learning environment in the classroom for the students.

School Education in Karnataka” • 23 2. A case of Karnataka Public Schools

With falling enrolments in Government schools, how do we move forward? Karnataka Public School, Rayarkoppalu

Over the years, the government schools across the state have been witnessing a declining trend in enrolments. The falling enrolments have a cascading impact on the

the government schools are the best way to bring about equitable education in the state.health and efficacy of the government school system. This is an area of concern as Consider Rayarakoppalu, a village in Alur Taluk of Hassan District, which has a Government Primary, High School and Pre- University college. From its peak enrolments of more than 1500 students, Over the years the 3 Government

combined strength of the 3 schools stood at 140 students. This is at the same time wheninstitutions the 4 privatehave seen schools a gradual in the decrease village were in their witnessing enrolment. an exponentialIn 2018-19, jumpthe in

their enrolments which stood at over 2000 students in 2018-19. Public School, Rayarakoppalu. The school was given an Annual Maintenance grant of Rs.5.00In 2018-19, lakhs all and the repair three grantschools of wereRs. 5.00 integrated lakhs. The and grants reconstituted were used as toKarnataka improve the overall environment of the schools.

before after

Along with starting a Pre-primary section, Refurbishment of Classroom and Toilets, Provision for drinking water, Procurement of Learning resources, etc. were also made in the school through the grant. This led to a positive change in the mind-set of

for the School leaders, the staff, SDMC members and other the well-wishers of the schoolthe parents who startedand the takinglarger oncommunity. a more active This rolewas fora much-needed the improvement boost of of the confidence schools. A worthy mention is also the 500 members of the senior student’s association took on a very active role in creating a positive narrative around the school through social media and other platforms. Due to the sustained efforts of all the stakeholders, KPS, Rayarakoppalu received almost 1600 applications and close to 760 students have

already enrolled for the 2019-20 Academic year. 24 • Government of Karnataka

Due to the sustained effort by the Staff of the school and the community, we have been able to revitalise a “ very important institution in the village. It is now our responsibility to ensure that all students learn well in a safe and secure environment.

- Bhyrappa KC, Principal, KPS, Rayarkoppalu ” The evidence of realization and the demand for quality education in a Govt. institution is given in the following table on the enrolments.

Aspirants Enrollment for limited to Sl. No Stage 2017 - 18 2018 - 19 2019 - 20 2019 - 20

1 Pre - primary - - 400 160

2 1 to 7th std 37 47 680 280

3 8 to 10th std 63 76 370 220

4 11 to 12th std 40 53 150 100

TOTAL 140 176 1600 760

There will be 276 Karnataka Public Schools by the end of this year and the State government has already announced to increase the number of KPS to 1000 in the next four years. These schools will be Centres of Excellence supporting every student to reach their potential by focusing on curricular, co-curricular and other life skills.

3. Special Education in Karnataka

Charting a path towards real inclusiveness Syed Khan, BIERT, Hulikere, Mandya District

While working as a regular teacher in the Government School system for about

children with special needs. This was around the same time the department had encouraged8 years, Syed the Khan teachers witnessed to apply the forimproper a special care education and attention program. meted After out being to the selected, he was sponsored by the department to pursue his studies in Special Education. He expected to start working with the Children with Special Needs

School Education in Karnataka • 25 (CWSN) as soon as he returned. To his dismay, he found that none of the parents actually paid attention to sending the CWSN children to school.

the children in their homes. Gradually, he asked the parents to bring their children toSyed the Khan school began for multiple his journey therapies as a special such aseducator physio, by speech providing and play. first The aid andchildren care to also got consulted through the doctors from the Health Department and receved

to cultivate and build a rapport with the parents and the larger community. These treatment for specific ailments. These small steps were instrumental for Syed Khan spend their entire day with their children in the school. Home-based support is alsodays, provided all the identified for children CWSN with students severe attenddisabilities. school Through and in mostthese cases, efforts, the a strongparents network of parents of the children with special needs has been created who actively participate in the school processes and also act as a strong support group for each other. Syed Khan also routinely keeps the parents informed about the various schemes that can be availed by their children. Presently the SRP centre in the school is accessed by many students and parents from nearby towns and villages and is well resourced and provides Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Sensory Integration Therapy etc.

Rajendra, who is hearing and speech impaired, is a school alumnus and he fondly recalls his time at the school where students with special needs and other students worked in the classrooms and played together. He feels that this has helped him immensely as he is able to make friends and cope up with his studies at his Degree college in Mysore. Syed Khan mentions that because of the focus on Special Education, the overall learning levels of the students in the school is high as the teachers are more aware and are constantly trying to adapt their teaching styles to suit the varying needs of the students.

26 • Government of Karnataka 1. Budgetary support for refurbishment and upgradation of School Infrastructure 1. Uniforms, textbooks, 2. Karnataka Public shoes Schools 2. MDM & Ksheerabagya scheme (Milk) 1. Guru Chethana School 3. Scholarships, 2. TALP cycles etc. environment and facilities Teaching Student professional and Learner Development incentives 1. Nali Kali, Nali Kali English 2. Ganita Kalika Andolana Child friendly Key Retention 1. Basige Sambrama 3. Odu Karnataka & learning and 2. Viswasa Kirana environment 4. Prerana Areas progress 3. Makkala Habba 5. Activity books for students

Learning School achievement Community & outcomes Equity, Network 1. NAS Access and 1. SDMC participation 2. C-SAS participation 2. Samudaya Data shale

1. School Readiness program for Children with Special needs 2. Access to quality pre-primary and English medium schools

School Education in Karnataka • 27 www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in

28