State govt. to close 22 Moulana Azad Model Schools in Karnataka due to poor maintenance and lack of infrastructure

Bengaluru

The State government will close 22 Moulana Azad Model Schools, which have fewer than 150 students, in the State, owing to poor maintenance and a lack of infrastructure, and the Finance Department has also given the green signal to this.

The Minority Welfare Department in September ordered that nine schools, with fewer than 100 students, and 13, with 100 to 150 students, should be closed. The Department’s Deputy Secretary, Mahibabu Saba, also said in the order that students should be shifted to the nearby schools or relocated to other places.

The government started 200 Moulana Azad Model Schools in the academic year 2017-18 and 2018-19 under the Directorate of Minorities across Karnataka. A total strength of 200 students had been sanctioned for each school, and currently 39,000 (65%) students are enrolled.

These schools are English medium and teach from Classes VI to X. The Minority Welfare Department is providing free uniforms, books, notebooks, stationeries, shoes, and socks.

However, the Department distributed only single sets of uniforms for Class VI students last year. For two years, the Department had not distributed any uniforms, notebooks, and other items.

Teachers said they are suffering from the lack of infrastructure. “In some places, the department is running the schools in its own building. But in other places, they are being run in dilapidated old government school buildings and on rented premises. Some schools are being run in tin sheds and most of them don’t have separate toilets for boys and girls. The older girls are hesitating to come to school,” said a teacher.

Poor maintenance of toilets, a lack of drinking water and playgrounds are also being deemed as factors contributing to poor enrolment.