Last updated: January 27, 2023, 6:44 PM IST
“Start Pre-University Colleges from next year on those schools that have completed 10 years and the students are in 10th grade,” Bommai said (File photo by @BSBommai)
These residential schools will also need to conduct competitive exams among students so that they are prepared for such challenges once they complete their education and start looking for work, Bommai said.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday that the state-run residential schools, which have completed 10 years, will have colleges offering pre-university courses (PUC) in their premises from the next academic year.
These residential schools will also need to conduct competitive exams among students so that they are prepared for such challenges once they complete their education and start looking for work, Bommai said.
The Prime Minister also asked social services to refrain from the “tendency to spend money only on building school buildings to satisfy contractors”. Instead, the focus should be on improving the quality of education.
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“Start the Pre-University Colleges from next year in those schools which have completed 10 years and the students are in 10th grade,” said Bommai after the inauguration of ‘Science Expo-2023’ by the Karnataka Residential Education Institution Society (KREIS) in the Palace grounds here.
According to Bommai, “quality education will not continue” if the students have to go to different schools after finishing the 10th grade because the competitive exams for them start after finishing their VWO. Therefore, the students should continue their PUC education from the same residential school, he said.
Take competitive exams in these schools among the children. We have provided them with a level playing field to discover the shortcomings of the children so that this can be rectified and their capacity increased,” said the Prime Minister.
Bommai pointed out that the children studying in the Morarji Desai Residential Schools and similar other residential schools run by the state government are quite sharp and got admission by scoring above 60 percent to 70 percent.
He said the government’s aim is to ensure that these students score 90 percent by the time they complete their education.
The prime minister slammed the tendency to spend more money on building buildings, which benefits contractors.
“We spend thousands of millions of rupees on these institutions. We spend more on buildings and compound walls,” Bommai said, insisting that the focus would be on the “requirements” of the students studying in these residential schools. Bommai said : “Stop giving money to the contractors. Change that model yourself.” According to him, expenditure on building schools had started from Rs five crore which escalated to Rs 10 crore and Rs 14 crore and now it has reached a stage where the government is spending Rs 30 crore on each school.
”Spend Rs 30 crore on the schemes (facilities) for children. On the one hand, government money is flowing away and on the other hand, the necessary arrangements for the children are not being made,” said the prime minister.
Bommai blamed previous governments, which he said spent money on building schools rather than improving the quality of education.
“This is a legacy of previous governments taking on ‘contractor-based civil works’, which is how we got to this stage,” he said.
Bommai stated that children belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward castes study in these schools, and said it was the government’s duty to ensure the quality of education.
He instructed officials to provide him with a list of deficiencies in the schools and assured that the government will provide grants.
Bommai also instructed officials to visit schools rather than “administrate” from Bengaluru.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed)