BJP government gets ‘fail’ in report card for performance in education - The Hindu

Key Findings of the Report Card

Bahutva Karnataka, a coalition of progressive organizations, released a report card giving the BJP government in Karnataka an "E" grade (failing) for its performance in education. The report highlights several key failures over the past four years.

• Falling Learning Levels: The report cites the ASER 2022 report, showing only 8.6% of Class 3 students could read Class 2 level texts, a significant drop from 19.3% in 2018.
• Mishandling of Pandemic: The poorly planned and implemented NEP program, combined with school closures during the pandemic, caused severe educational deprivation, particularly for students in government and poor private schools lacking online access or home support.
• Communalization of Education: The report criticizes the hijab ban, stating it communalized classrooms and caused years of damage. Textbook revisions are also faulted for lowering curriculum quality and making textbooks unavailable.
• Funding and Staffing Issues: With 57.7% of teaching posts vacant in government schools (the highest in the country), 13,000 government schools were closed due to mergers. Meanwhile, private universities received approvals without proper discussion, while premiere institutes lack funding.
• Exclusionary Policies: Delays and cessations of scholarships for SC, ST, BC, and OBC students, along with the removal of reservations for Muslim students, are criticized for excluding students from education.

Overall Assessment

The report concludes that the BJP government's policies have resulted in students being pushed out of education, classrooms becoming sites of division, and overall setbacks in educational goals. Bahutva Karnataka plans to release further report cards on the government's performance in other sectors.