Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Rathnakar
Shimoga, May 23,: Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Rathnakar on Thursday announced that he would issue orders for recruitment of teachers on May 28.
Rathnakar told reporters here that 16,000 posts of teachers were vacant in the state and the government has already sanctioned funds to recruit 4,000 teachers. The previous government had postponed the process stating the special status accorded to Hyderabad-Karnataka region under article 371 of the Constitution had come in the way of recruitments.
The minister said he would hold a meeting with officials of his department on May 28 and issue orders to fill the teachers’ posts, except the 1,200 in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
The government is contemplating to start a model school at the gram panchayat level after merging all the government schools which have low attendance. In a few schools, especially in Malnad region, there are more teachers than students. The government is planning to provide transport facility to students from such schools to attend schools at the gram panchayat level. “A lot of discussion is needed before implementing this project.
The matter would be discussed with education experts and intellectuals,” Rathnakar said.
In the State budget that is expected to be presented in the first week of June, Rs 15,000 crore would be allocated for the education sector, of which Rs 10,000 crore would be earmarked for the salaries of the teaching staff. The rest of the funds will be used for implementing various projects of the department. An estimated Rs 3,000 crore is required for these programmes.
“Many complaints have been received from various quarters that the textbooks have been saffronised. After consulting the Cabinet, a decision would be taken to drop the controversial parts from the textbooks,” he added.
Rathnakar, the lone minister from Shimoga district, agreed that there were frequent powercuts in the district.
He said efforts would be made to start a power generation station at Gajanur. The work on the Shimoga airport has to be completed. Shimoga City MLA K B Prasanna Kumar was present.
