Mandya: Black flags will be hoisted in all 31 district headquarters across Karnataka on Republic Day in protest against the state govt’s decision to merge govt schools, said Induvalu Chandrashekhar, district president of Karnataka State Farmers’ Association.The statewide protest is being organised by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene.Chandrashekhar told reporters on Tuesday that over 40,000 govt schools are being merged under Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) Magnet School model. He warned that the move would severely affect children from poor and rural backgrounds by restricting their access to quality and affordable education.Chandrashekhar alleged that a majority of private educational institutions are directly or indirectly controlled by politicians. He accused the govt of intentionally weakening govt schools to benefit private institutions, calling such an action anti-people.Stressing the importance of safeguarding public education, he demanded that no govt school should be closed or merged. He also called for the implementation of a uniform education policy across the state. He demanded the provision of bilingual CBSE-model education from LKG to Class 5 in all 41,905 govt schools, establishment of Navodaya-style CBSE residential schools for classes 6 to 12, and ensuring the direct transfer of grants to School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) accounts, instead of routing it through the education department.
