English in Kannada medium schools too?

Mysuru: The government plans to introduce English as a language from Class 1 in its Kannada medium schools and take other measures to improve their quality of education and infrastructure to help draw more students to them, according to Primary and Secondary Education Minister , N Mahesh.

Interestingly, he said the government  planned to ask all Ministers and officials to send their children to government schools, but added hastily that there would be no force involved and they would have the option to take the suggestion or not.
Mr Mahesh was speaking to reporters during his visit to the 185- year -old Maharaja’s High School on JLB road, established by Mysuru king, Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in the heart of the city. The institute has seen the number of its  students dwindle from over 700 two decades ago to merely 122 now.

Claiming that government schools had well qualified teachers, who were even better than those employed by private schools, the Minister regretted that they were not being made use of properly. “In Mysuru alone  there are 22 government higher primary schools with over 4000 children. But over 60 per cent of these students later join private high schools. Mere advertisements to promote admissions to government high schools  is not enough. Officials of the education department need to  visit the children and their parents in higher primary schools and try to draw them to government high schools including Maharaja’s,” he said, noting that there was a provision for providing Rs 700 per child under the Sarva Shikshana Abhiyan.

Mr Mahesh revealed the government was considering building a pre -metric hostel attached to the Maharaja’s high school, among other  measures to save the historical institute. “We also plan to hold a workshop for NGOs, education experts, activists and teachers to provide a congenial atmosphere for teachers of government schools,” he added.