KARNATAKA - of Planning Commission

Karnataka Human Development Report 2005the total number of schools, indicating a modestincrease in the number of unaided schools and arelative decline in the proportion of governmentschools over a period of 13 years. The number ofprivate unaided schools in the state increased at acompound growth rate of eight per cent per annumduring the period 1990-91 to 2003-04 whileaided schools and government schools increasedat 1.8 and 1.5 per cent respectively during thesame period. This suggests that there is now aslight increase in the demand for unsubsidised,primary schools but overall, the government’srole as provider of education to the poor andthe vulnerable has not diminished signifi cantly.The absolute number of government schools hasincreased, hence the government’s proactive rolecontinues. Districts with the highest percentageof government primary schools (classes I to VIII)are Udupi (95.05), Chikmaglur (91.63), Haveri(91.59) and Bangalore Rural (91.00) (AppendixTables : Series 4) Table 5.7 reinforces this position:the demand for private schooling is urban-drivenwith a high concentration (34.1 per cent) ofprivate, unaided schools in urban areas where thedistribution of government schools is low at 47.4per cent. Predictably, Bangalore Urban districthas the highest percentage (38.74) of privateunaided schools. Providers of private schoolingdo not fi nd it profi table to establish institutions inrural areas where the population is predominantlylow-income and where habitations can beboth small and dispersed. The responsibility ofeducating the poor is shouldered by the stateand any fallback here would have adverseconsequences for the attainment of UEE.Enrolment in primary education (classes I to VII)grew at the rate of 1.4 per cent, encompassinggrowth of one per cent for boys and two per centfor girls per annum, from 1990-91 to 2003-04,indicating that girls’ education has receivedan impetus. Girls’ enrolment grew from 36per cent of the total enrolment in 1980-81to 48 per cent in 2003-04. Bijapur, whichhad the lowest rank among all the districtsin girls’ enrolment in 1997-98 (KHDR 1999),continues to be the lowest ranked district in2003-04, although enrolment increased from42.2 per cent in 1997-98 to 46.8 per cent inBOX 5.5Learning via satelliteThe Edusat Primary Education Project is a pilot project in distance education in primary educationand the fi rst of its kind in the country. It is being implemented in collaboration with ISRO.The infrastructure consists of a central hub at Bangalore and Receive only Terminals (ROTs)with 29 sets in 885 schools in the educationally backward district of Chamarajnagar. Educationprogrammes uplinked from the hub are received via the Edusat satellite in all schoolssimultaneously.Edusat’s objectives are: To bring in quality improvement in classroom transactions at the primary level; To make learning child centred, interesting and motivating; To supplement classroom teaching with audio-visual support; To take children through real life situations; To give students access to the best teachers in every fi eld; To ensure that ‘diffi cult’ topics in every subject are easily understood by children; To provide inputs in non-curricular areas for the overall development of children; To encourage teachers to develop teaching learning materials (TLM) and use themeffectively in classrooms.Source: Education Department.TABLE 5.6Ratio of schools to students in primary education: A profile - 2003-04Districts No. of schools Children per schoolKolar 3940 114Tumkur 3878 100Belgaum 3465 221Bangalore Urban 3242 282North KarnatakaBijapur 1901 210Gulbarga 2594 273Koppal 982 243Uttara Kannada 2264 98South KarnatakaChikmaglur 1696 103Chitradurga 1907 147Mandya 2104 120Mysore 2339 176Note: The fi rst four districts have the highest number of primary schools in the state. The remaining eight districts areselected randomly (Appendix Tables, Series 4).Source: Commissioner for Public Instruction, Karnataka.105