State does a poor job in educating its children in Karnataka

TNN

Mangalore, 21 March 2012: There is nothing for the state to crow about in the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2011. The report clearly indicates that the state has miles to go when it comes to educating tomorrow’s citizens. It says that the percentage of rural children ’not in school’ is very high in Karnataka compared to neighbouring Kerala. 

 

Even when the percentage of rural children in the 15-16 age group who are out of school in Kerala is only 1.2 per cent, Karnataka is far behind with 16.7 per cent children deprived of their right to education in 2010-11.Karnataka is the eighth state with a high percentage of school drop outs and children who are not enrolled in schools. The report, which was prepared based on data collected from households in 27 districts in the state, shows that 18.1 per cent of rural boys of 15-16 age group were out of school in the state while it is only 1.3 per cent in Kerala. The percentage of girls of the same age group, who are out of school in the state, is 15.2 while it is only 1.1 per cent in Kerala.A wide gap is also seen between Kerala and Karnataka even in other age groups too. As per the report, only 0.1 per cent children of between 6 and 14 years are not in school in Kerala. 

 

 

Meanwhile, the percentage is relatively very high with 2.8 per cent in Karnataka.The state also lags behind in terms of meeting norms under Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act compared to Kerala. While only 1.9 per cent of the schools in Kerala do not have facility for drinking water, 11.7 per cent of the schools in the state do not have the same facility. The report points out that only 0.3 of the schools in Kerala do not have toilet facility. At the same time, in Karnataka, six per cent of the schools do not have toilets. The percentage of schools without libraries in Kerala is only 1.9 against 7.4 per cent in Karnataka.Educationist Renny D’Souza told TOI that lack of people’s participation is the major reason for the hindrance in education sector in the state. "Local bodies should be given more authority to manage schools in each region. Further, implementation of RTE Act would also change the scenario in a large way. More funds would be released for infrastructure and there will be a strict monitoring in the functioning schools once the Act was implemented," he added.