Karnataka is set to launch a significant educational initiative, offering free coaching to 25,000 pre-university science students from government colleges to help them prepare for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Common Entrance Test (CET). School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa announced this on Wednesday, marking a significant step towards levelling the playing field for students from rural backgrounds, who often lack access to such resources compared to their urban counterparts. The government has allocated Rs 12.5 crore for this project, which will also include free coaching for other competitive exams.
Minister Bangarappa explained that the coaching would be available to both first and second-year pre-university course (PUC) students. The selection process will involve shortlisting 25,000 students from a pool of 80,000 PUC science students through an entrance exam. Qualified trainers from a selected coaching institute will provide the coaching. The government plans to invite tenders soon to engage a coaching institute for this purpose.
In addition to this coaching initiative, Minister Bangarappa highlighted some of the challenges facing the state’s education system. He pointed out that approximately 6,400 government schools in Karnataka have fewer than ten students enrolled. To address this, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is working on a project to develop model schools in each panchayat based on a public-private partnership (PPP) model. This approach aims to attract students from schools with low enrollment to these model schools, where they will receive quality education.
The Education Minister also expressed concern about parents’ reluctance to send their children to government schools and the issue of children being involved in fieldwork and other menial jobs at a young age. He acknowledged the infrastructure and teacher availability issues in government schools and assured that efforts are being made to resolve these problems. Minister Bangarappa urged parents to prioritise education and send their children to school rather than engaging them in work at an early stage.
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Additionally, the minister announced that the education department is working on reducing the weight of school bags by introducing single notebooks for multiple subjects or note sheets instead of traditional notebooks. In a pioneering move, the department is also planning to trial a face-recognition system to mark students’ attendance. This system will be linked to the Students Achievement Tracking System (SATS), which monitors students’ performance, representing a first-of-its-kind initiative in the state.
These measures reflect Karnataka’s commitment to improving educational opportunities and addressing systemic challenges in the state’s education sector, aiming to create a more equitable environment for all students.
