Government admits 17 lakh drop in govt school enrollment over 15 years

Belagavi: The Karnataka government has formally acknowledged a sharp decline of nearly 17 lakh students—about 30 percent—in government school enrollment over the last 15 years.

The revelation came during the ongoing Assembly session in Belagavi, where School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa responded to questions raised by BJP MLA S. Suresh Kumar.

The issue triggered concern across party lines, with several members urging Speaker U.T. Khader to allow a full-day special discussion on the growing challenges in the school education sector. The Speaker agreed, noting that the scale of the problem warranted in-depth deliberation.

Responding to Suresh Kumar’s question on whether the government was aware of the drastic drop in enrollment, Madhu Bangarappa confirmed that departmental data over the last 10–15 years clearly showed a consistent decline of 17 lakh students.

He attributed the fall to multiple factors, including the rising preference for English-medium education, a growing shift towards CBSE and other central curricula, migration of parents and students, and the mushrooming of private schools across the state.

The Minister noted that the government was taking several steps to improve enrollment in government schools. These include strengthening welfare programmes such as mid-day meals, Ksheera Bhagya, free textbooks, uniforms, shoes and socks.

Additionally, parent-teacher meetings are being conducted once every three months across government schools and PU colleges to track students’ learning progress.

To improve accessibility and continuity in education, Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) are being established in each gram panchayat, offering classes from LKG to Class 12 under one roof. Currently, 900 KPS institutions are being set up.

Moreover, over 9,500 government schools have introduced English-medium sections alongside Kannada-medium instruction. The minister also highlighted ongoing reforms aimed at improving SSLC and II PU examination results.

On the issue of infrastructure gaps, Madhu Bangarappa assured that funds would be released soon to construct new classrooms, toilets and repair damaged buildings. He said the state cabinet had recently approved major upgrades for government schools and colleges, and that fund-release orders had already been signed.

Providing further details, the minister stated that Rs 360 crore had been earmarked for new classrooms, ₹100 crore for repairs, and Rs 90 crore specifically for constructing toilets. PU colleges would receive a total of Rs 97 crore for infrastructure development.

The discussion reflected growing concern over the long-term impact of declining enrollment and infrastructure gaps on Karnataka’s public education system.

Also Read: Indian Railway cancel over 23 trains from Bengaluru