Bengaluru, July 20: Amidst concerns over intensified saffronisation of education, Karnataka School Education minister BC Nagesh has said the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 model will be introduced once it is over.
He also said mainstream subjects will be introduced in madrasas on the lines of the decision taken by the Uttar Pradesh government.
“The current focus of the government is the learning-recovery programme to make for the gap caused due to Covid-19. However, the nali-kali method of learning (imparting education through fun activities) will be implemented from classes 1-3 as per the NEP guidelines once the learning-recovery programme is over so that students are proficient in basic arithmetic and alphabetical skills.” Nagesh added that the department is also planning to combine the curriculum for anganwadi and primary education as per the NEP guidelines.
In line with the UP government’s decision to introduce general subjects in madrasas, Nagesh said efforts will be made to incorporate mainstream subjects like science, maths, and English in madrasas. He noted that attendance in Urdu schools have reduced drastically and students want to learn more subjects.
“We have got recommendations to change the syllabus in madrasas and incorporate subjects like maths, English and science. No decision has been taken on this yet but we will implement this.”
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Nagesh said 15,000 teachers will be recruited this academic year. “Karnataka’s teacher student ratio is 1:23, but we are witnessing shortage of teachers, especially in rural regions. We will recruit a sufficient number of teachers on priority.”
He said about 1,800 schools in Karnataka have less than 10 students. “Out of 48,000 government schools, around 13,800 have less than 25 students. The teacher shortage is also because for every school with less than 10 students we are providing one teacher and for every school with more than 11 students, we are providing two teachers. We will offer free transportation to students by spending Member of Legislative Assembly Local Area Development (MLALAD) funds and also introduce classes in spoken English,” said Nagesh, who also added that students’ strength in government schools is declining because of lack of quality education.
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