Karnataka: Over 3,000 extra admissions in govt schools in Dakshina Kannada

MANGALURU: There has been an unexpected windfall for government schools in the district, due to the pandemic. They have received over 3,000 extra admissions as on date. The admission process, that is still on, will close by the end of October.
Officials from the department of public instruction say that every year they have a target for admissions. “However, this year admissions have gone up more than expected.We had targeted 98,532 and 46,229 admissions for government and aided schools in the district for this academic year, respectively. To our surprise, we have witnessed an increase of 2% to 3% in admissions in government schools,” said Malleswamy, DDPI, Dakshina Kannada. The district is one among top performing districts in the state, when it comes to admissions.
Malleswamy said every year the target numbers for the district are reduced by about 600 to 700 for class I. This time the government as well as aided schools, irrespective of grades, have received more admissions. The major reason for students migrating to government schools, is that the fee issue at unaided or private schools never got sorted out. “This has forced several parents to cancel admissions at private schools, and admit their children to state-run schools,” said Malleswamy, adding that the final numbers for admission in the district will be known only after the end of October.
The block education officials point out that the highest number of students were admitted at Kannada-English bilingual medium schools. This year the district has added 32 new bilingual medium schools, and the numbers have increased to 82 schools.
Another official said that many parents, who earlier sent their wards to far-off private schools, have now enrolled them in nearby government schools. It is the same with those who stayed in residential schools. “The parents have strongly felt that their ward did not get enough learning from online classes. Meanwhile, parents also found an improvement in quality in education at government schools, especially bilingual medium schools,” an official said.
A few private schools admit that some students have been issued with transfer certificates. “When we don’t give them TC owing to pending school fees, they directly approach the jurisdictional BEOs and take it,” said the owner of a private school.