Mid-day meal to check drop-out rate

By Our Staff Correspondent

GULBARGA, JULY 10. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, today said the mid-day meal for students in government primary schools was being introduced in seven north Karnataka districts - Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Koppal, Bellary, Bijapur and Bagalkot - to reduce the drop-out rate and improve literacy which was abysmally low in the region.

The Chief Minister's speech was read out, in his absence, by the Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge. Mr. Krishna, who was to have launched the special education package for the seven districts, cancelled his visit to Gulbarga at the last minute because of indisposition. Mr. Kharge launched the special education package and inaugurated a separate Directorate of Education for north-eastern Karnataka to monitor the implementation of the package.

Mr. Krishna said widespread poverty in the seven districts was cited as one of the reasons for parents not sending their children to school. The fact that a large number of children, particularly from rural areas, were forced to toil was a shame on society. ``The introduction of the mid-day meal scheme in the schools will definitely draw more children to school and the drop-out rate will come down drastically.''

He said that a study conducted by the State Government showed that 10.5 lakh children in the age group of 6 to 14 years had dropped out of school. Of them, 6.05 lakhs were from the seven north Karnataka districts. Gulbarga District topped the list with 1.85 lakh drop-outs, followed by Raichur with 1.16 lakhs, Bijapur with 81,000, Bellary with 73,000, Koppal with 58,000, Bidar with 42,000 and Bagalkot with 50,000 drop-outs.

Mr. Krishna said the aim of the Government was to establish schools in all villages and make pre-primary and primary schools more accessible. It had been decided to establish at least one pre-primary school within one-km. radius and one primary school within two-km. radius of each village. Though the State's literacy rate of 67 per cent was 2 per cent more than the national average when compared to the performance of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, ``we have to cross many more milestones to be on a par with our neighbouring States''. The literacy percentage in the seven districts selected for the special package was even lower when compared to that of the other districts in the State, he said.

To overcome this problem, Mr. Krishna said the Government had decided to allocate to the seven districts more than 50 per cent of the amount earmarked in the budget for education.

In addition, the Government had sanctioned Rs. 73.45 crores from NABARD's Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) for improving infrastructure, Rs. 2.46 crores for providing drinking water and constructing toilets in schools, Rs. 17.68 crores for the construction of school buildings and classrooms, Rs. 14.60 crores for repairing existing schools and Rs. 1.20 crores for the purchase of books and furniture.

Apart from constructing primary school buildings and classrooms, he said the Government attached equal importance to high school education in the region and would sanction two high schools for each taluk. Mr. Krishna said the intention of the Government was to bring more than 3.66 lakh drop-outs back to school within the next three years and enrol 2.93 lakh children in the age group of five to seven years in school.

The Chief Minister thanked the Infosys and the Azim Premji foundations for lending a helping hand in tackling the high drop- out rate among school children in the State.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : VAT in Karnataka by April: Krishna
Next     : Saplings planted on Central College Campus