HDK takes a leaf out of BJP MLA’s pre-school concept in Dharwad

Bengaluru: “There should be no politics in development since it’s not a gift of any political party; it is of all,” Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan recently said at a public function in New Delhi.
The JD(S)-Congress coalition government seems to have followed the observation, knowingly or unknowingly in its state budget: it has emulated a BJP MLA’s successful experiment in north Karnataka to start pre-primary (kindergarten) classes in government schools to check dwindling enrolment.
In his budget, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said the government would start 1,000 pre-schools in select schools across the state.
“I’m overwhelmed; Kumaraswamy had no qualms about appreciating my pet project and including it in his maiden budget to improve student enrolment in schools,’’ said BJP MLA Aravind Bellad, who represents Hubballi-Dharwad (west) constituency in Dharwad district, the educational capital of north Karnataka.
The Bellad model
It all started four years ago when Bellad, an industrialist-turned politician, visited government schools in his constituency after reports of a dip in the number of students.
Based on feedback he received from various quarters, the MLA hit upon the idea to start pre-schools. As a pilot project, he started the experiment with the government school at Kelageri village near Dharwad by taking members of the school development and monitoring committee (SDMC) and education department officials into confidence.
Later, he extended it to all 62 government schools in his constituency. The project was successful as the student intake in Dharwad Urban division rose by 2,247. Inspired by the outcome, the JD(S)-Congress government decided to start kindergarten classes in 1,000 government schools in the first phase.
“We realized not many parents were getting their children admitted to government schools because there was no kindergarten. So, parents preferred to send their kids to private schools. The tendency among parents is to continue their children in the school they start with as they get used to the ambience and teachers there,’’ Bellad said.
Former primary education minister Tanveer Sait in the Siddaramaiah government had shown interest in emulating the scheme but he failed to implement it, sources said.
Times View
Falling enrolment is a sad reality in state government schools and rural areas are no exception. Infrastructure remains the basic issue and quality education a casualty. With a threat of closure hanging over a number of schools that have too few students on the rolls, the government’s focus should be on making them competitive enough to face the challenge from English-medium schools. The buck doesn’t stop there — education in sync with changing times is the need of the hour. Though late, the government’s proposal to start 1,000 pre-schools seems right. It must show political will to execute it effectively