Students, parents protest against closure of govt. school

Taking exception to a proposed move to close the government higher primary school at Benakanakatti village in Dharwad taluk and merge it with Karnataka Public School (KPS) magnet school, scores of students and their parents staged a demonstration before the school on Thursday.

Addressing the protesters, district secretary of All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) Shashikala Meti said that residents of Benakanakatti village had not given consent to the proposal to shift and merge the government primary school in the village with the KPS magnet school in Devara Hubballi village.

“Most of the parents of students at the government school in Benakanakatti are farmers and farm labourers. They leave for their farmland in the morning and return in the evening and the school in the village has been of much help to them as they can leave their children in the school without any worries. But if the school is merged with the Devara Hubballi school, then the students will have to travel 3 km everyday,” she said.

Ms. Meti said that the main demand of the parents and the students was that their school should not be closed and should be allowed to function from the existing premises.

She said that in the name of establishing more Karnataka Public Schools, the State government was planning to close down over 40,000 government schools and the Minister for School Education and Literacy was telling blatant lies in this regard. “The Minister earlier issued a statement before the media that no school would be closed. If such was the case, then why was the list for closure of schools being prepared and orders issued,” she asked.

Ms. Meti alleged that the government’s ploy was to help private institutions in the name of KPS and students and parents and people from all walks of life should come together to protest against the move.