At least half of Karnataka’s government-run schools lack property registration. According to Deccan Herald, the Department of School Education and Literacy, in collaboration with the Revenue Department, has taken repeated steps to register properties in the names of the schools. However, 17,490 of the state’s 43,564 primary schools have yet to receive property documents in their names.
Among the several districts, Mandya has the most schools pending for the transfer/registration of property documents in their names, with 963, followed by Kalaburagi with 875, Chikkamagaluru with 815, and Dakshina Kannada with 76. Officials from the department clarified that some lawsuits were pending in court that were filed by private persons.
“In some cases, the land was donated to schools by ancestors and their family members are now claiming the properties back. There are reports of encroachment and the school properties are at risk,” said an official from the department as quoted by Deccan Herald.
To prevent miscreants from trespassing or seizing government school properties, the State Department of School Education and Literacy has planned a property registration campaign that will run from December 2023 to February 2024.
The department designated district physical education officers as nodal officers for this purpose and these officers are in charge of presenting the district administration with proposals about school properties. “In case of encroachment, they must submit a proposal for the removal of encroachment,” the official further added. Furthermore, the property must be uploaded to the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS) portal as soon as it is registered or transferred into the school’s name.
Conversely, beginning in the academic year 2024-25, the Karnataka government has implemented measures to reduce the number of textbooks for students in Classes 1 to 10. According to The Hindu, this decision aims to promote a scientifically structured approach to learning while addressing concerns about physical strain on students.
Students will now receive two textbooks per year under the new directive, rather than all of the textbooks at once for the entire academic year. To divide the material and relieve students of some of their workload, these will be distributed following the Summative Assessment (SA-1 and SA-2).
The State Government’s official order reflects the culmination of efforts by a committee formed in 2019. The committee, which included education experts, paediatricians, doctors, legal advisors, and Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) officials, conducted an extensive study on reducing the burden of school bags.
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