Students deprived of shoes, socks, uniforms in Karnataka government schools; paucity of funds blamed

While earmarking Rs 31,980 crore for education programmes, Bommai stressed that thrust would be given to bring up new universities, model schools and Bengaluru public schools.

According to a senior officer with the Education Department, the state government’s budget is focusing more on education programmes and building education institutions rather than on shoes, socks, uniforms, and bicycles. “The last two years of school education were completely disrupted due to the pandemic and classes were held online. Hence, not much priority was given to allocate funds for shoes, socks, and uniforms. However, we have given the work order for the uniforms and it will reach the students in the coming weeks,” the officer said.

“The uniform cost had gone up and there was delay in designing the fabric as the textile industry remained non-functional during the lockdown period. As far as the shoes, socks and bicycles are concerned, it is estimated that over Rs 300 crore is required to fund them. Education minister B C Nagesh will hold a meeting with the chief minister shortly in this regard,” said the officer.

Govt playing with the future of innocent children: Siddaramaiah

The government’s approach has invited sharp criticism from the Opposition. Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah has accused the ruling party of playing with the future of innocent children. “On the one hand, the ruling party leaders and officers are looting the public money through 40 per cent commission politics, and on the other hand, the BJP is playing with the future of innocent children by not giving textbooks, bicycles, shoes and socks. It was former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa who introduced the scheme to give bicycles to girl students. Is Basavaraj Bommai trying to sideline Yediyurappa by not continuing with the scheme?” Siddaramaiah asked.

Schools not yet been allocated funds

Speaking to IE.com, teachers across different public schools observed that for the past two years they did not have to bother about funds to purchase uniforms, socks and shoes as the classes were completely online due to the pandemic. “Usually we get a circular from the state government about the estimated cost for procuring shoes and socks in the month of June. We then invite quotations and select the vendor who gives the lowest quotation and allot the work order to them. But this year, even after nearly two months of school reopening we haven’t been allocated funds for purchasing the socks and shoes. In our school there are over 1,500 students and for each student it would cost around Rs 350 to buy a pair of socks and shoes,” the headmaster of a government high school in Bengaluru said.

Minister Nagesh recently courted controversy by saying that students attend schools “to seek education and not socks and shoes”.

He said the government has spent Rs 150 crore on the learning recovery programme, which is more important. “Funds have been allocated for repairing and building new classrooms which were destroyed in the rain. Our prime focus is to provide quality education and classrooms this year. At the same time, we are not denying shoes and socks. We will take the decision on the matter in the coming days.”

The state government ordered eight corrections in the revised textbook content, and the education department had stated that a booklet for each subject consisting of the corrections would be given to every school. However, the teachers said that they are yet to get the booklets.

The most ambitious learning recovery programme – an initiative to bridge the learning gap among students due to lockdown – also landed in a controversy after the teachers were asked to find donors to obtain photo copies of the learning worksheets. The students were also asked to take down the learning worksheets in their notebooks. “The worksheets are now being distributed to all the schools in a phased manner. The learning worksheets for classes 1, 2 and 3 have already been distributed,” said the education department officer.

Ajay Kamath, state secretary of All India Democratic Students’ Organisation, said, “Lack of funds is a lame excuse given by the government to shrug away from its responsibilities. If that was true, the government should have stopped increasing the legislators’ salaries too. But the government, which has meekly submitted to the demands of the legislators, has left umpteen numbers of poor and talented students in the lurch. The government, which had to stand by the students, has taken the grants back, which has resulted in the poor management, lack of teachers, stalling of projects in government institutions.”