Government school? Not for my child!

Bengaluru: The government spends crores on infrastructure, faculty and other facilities in its schools, but their classrooms continue to remain short of students who make a beeline instead for the expensive private schools, ignoring the free education it offers. You don’t have to look far to see why. A reality check done by Deccan Chronicle on Monday, two days after the start of the new academic year 2014-15, threw up a variety of reasons for the unpopularity of government schools among even the poorer sections of society.
 
Government Composite High School, Indian Institute of Science campus

This school, located inside the IISc campus, neighbours Bharat Ratna, Prof. CNR Rao’s house and is frequently visited by research  students of the IISc., who teach students spoken English among other subjects. Although the school recorded 91 per cent  passes in the recent  SSLC examination, it has an acute shortage of students between classes I and IV. Despite the good infrastructure, caring teachers and a large campus, parents are apparently afraid to send their children to the lower classes as they are required to cross at least four roads to enter it, throwing them open to the risk of accidents. “In the last couple of years, a couple of kids met with accidents while crossing roads and so we don’t want to risk sending our children to this school. We prefer the more accessible private schools,” said a local resident.

Parents also seem to be unhappy with children upto class III being forced to sit on the floor in the name of the ‘nali-kali’ (joyful learning) experiment. “Many parents living inside the IISc campus are ready to admit their children to the school. But when they see them sitting on the floor, they change their minds. Private schools have better seating arrangements. Today no parent in the state wants his child sitting on the  floor in classrooms,” said another local resident, adding, “Children who join Kannada schools don’t expect luxury in the classrooms. But unfortunately the government has failed to provide even the basic neccessities.” The high school section has a high admission rate, however, with students from Yelahanka also joining it mainly because of its good teachers, who even help parents stitch uniforms for the children and regularly follow- up on their performance. High school headmaster, Melurappa B. says the good mid-day meal is also a draw with the students. “We have the numbers of all students and if any of them are absent even for one day, we call them,” he added.

Government model school, Malleswaram

Till Monday morning only three students had joined class I at this school for the academic year 2014-15. Located in a multi-storey building, the school which has 60 students in all, has enough room to accommodate more. But due to the shortage of students, many of the classrooms have been turned into godowns by the Department of Public Instruction. While parents seem to have no problems with the mid-day meal or supply of textbooks and uniforms, they are allegedly unwilling to send their children to the school as it doesn’t have an adequate number of teachers. “There are only four teachers for classes I to VII. So the locals prefer sending their children to private schools under the RTE quota,” said a parent, who was also unhappy with the idea of children in the lower classes being forced to sit on the floor. “Our children studying between classes I and III were forced to sit on a carpet in the name of the nali kali experiment. We don’t see this in private schools,” he pointed out.

BBMP school, Tasker town

The situation here is better as the school has received 30 applications for admission to class I this academic year. But parents seem unhappy with the facilities it has to offer. “This school caters to people living below poverty line in and around Shivajinagar. No matter what the facilities, the poor have no option but to admit their children here,” said Mr. Sangopan Swamy, a local resident. Ask officials of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and they admit that most government schools in the city have received lukewarm response this academic year. “Higher admissions under RTE free quota may be one of the reasons. But the fact is that our schools are not attracting students. Although we have better buildings, the campus is usually dirty and unhygienic. In the absence of group D employees, schools are struggling to keep their surroundings clean. Also, school zones have become crowded. What we need is a complete overhauling of the system,” a senior officer says.