-Reshma Ravishanker
Bengaluru South and Bengaluru North have reported the least number of enrolments in schools in Karnataka with over one fourth the targeted numbers remaining out of school, statistics released by the department of public instruction indicates.
An interim report on admissions for the year 2021-22 released by the department of public instruction on August 7 indicates that in Bengaluru Urban North, 74% of the targeted admissions into schools (government, private and aided) have been completed while in Bengaluru Urban South, it is a mere 73%. Class-wise, the least admissions have been made into class one, with just 44 % enrolments in North and 47% in the South, the report indicates.
Students not reporting to the schools where they were previously enrolled is highest in private unaided schools as admissions are just 3/4th of the anticipated numbers in Bengaluru. While in Bengaluru North the number of admissions completed is at 70.53%, it is a mere 60.60%, in South. The number of pending admissions, even as online classes commenced on July 1 is as high as 2.96 lakh in Bengaluru South and 1.76 lakh in Bengaluru North.
The department has been releasing reports on the status of admissions into schools for the academic year 2021-22, the last date of which is August 31.
Non-metro districts such as Sirsi, Chitradurga, Karwar and Dakshina Kannada has achieved a 98 % of the admission target while Gadag, Udupi and Chikkodi have admitted 97 % of students already. Proportionately, the number of admissions into class 1, in contrast to Bengaluru, is over 80 % in all these districts.
Much like the trend indicated in its previous report released in July, private unaided schools have seen the least number of student intake while government and government-aided schools show a surplus admission in most districts.
The state reports an overall enrolment at 91.85 %. While government schools report 96.79 % enrolments and unaided show numbers exceeding the target at 109%, private unaided schools have seen 82.53 % of their usual seats are being filled for the academic year. Baring four districts- Bengaluru North and South, Kalaburagi and Raichur, all other districts in Karnataka have reported the number of admissions to be higher than the target.
D Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka said that the numbers in Bengaluru are an indication of school managements’ reluctance not to play by the department officials and indicate a false figure. “We are reluctant to show admissions on record by coming under any pressure. In the other parts of the state, management are being threatened by education department officials to enter false data, in the name of submitting data to the Karnataka High Court. We are not bogging down to such pressure,” he alleged, “Even the 40 % data indicated in class 1 is an inflated number.”
Also read: Karnataka: Over 60,000 missing admissions in 250 private schools
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