Around 500 schools face closure in Karnataka

Karnataka Government is seriously planning to close down an estimated 500 schools in the State, where the strength of students is less than five.

Disclosing this to reporters in Bangalore, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said the Education Department has already drawn a list of Government schools across the State, where the student strength is five or less.

Out of the 500 schools identified by the Department, as many as 120 of them are in Tumkur district alone, he said.

“Posting a teacher to a school with five students does not make sense. We are considering relocating these children to nearby schools before transferring the teacher”, Kageri added.

Appointing teachers and running a school with handful students is not worth the effort and cost. The students affected from such closures will be shifted to nearest schools. “If such schools are located far away, the Government will pay a transport allowance to such students”, he said.