Latest news with #SchoolDevelopmentandMonitoringCommittee
The Hindu
6 days ago
- The Hindu
Poisonous substance found in drinking water of govt. school in Karnataka's Hosanagar
Unknown miscreants allegedly mixed poisonous substance with the drinking water at a government lower primary school at Huvinakone village in Hosanagar taluk, leaving teachers, parents, and villagers in shock. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights have taken a serious note of the incident. The incident came to light on Thursday, when the school's cook, Deepa, fetched water from one of the two tanks on the school premises. She felt that the drinking water was coloured, and its smell, unbearable. The cook informed the teaching staff, who called up the office-bearers of the School Development and Monitoring Committee, parents, and senior officers of the School Education Department. When they opened the tank, they noticed that the water had turned white, and they, too, sensed a pungent smell. As they looked around, the staff allegedly found a bottle thrown near the tank, and noticed that the liquid in the bottle also smelt the same. Later, B. Ravi Kumar, a teacher in the school, filed a complaint with the Hosanagar police. The police registered a case under Section 123 of the BNS, which deals with causing hurt by means of poison. The school has two tanks to store drinking water. Earlier in the day, the cook fetched drinking water from one of the tanks and boiled milk for children. When she tried to bring water from the other tank to prepare lunch, she noticed the contamination. However, as a precautionary measure, the school staff took the children to the government hospital at Hosanagar. Nataraj, District Health Officer of Shivamogga, told The Hindu that he visited the hospital on Thursday and found all the children to be healthy. 'The children were brought to the hospital as a precautionary measure. All of them were healthy and normal. They had not consumed the contaminated water,' he said. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has taken a serious note of the issue and stated that the government had taken the issue of mixing pesticide with drinking water seriously. 'The crime committed with the evil intention of causing the deaths of children is no less than any terror act. The incident has been avoided due to an alert cooking staff in the school. I appreciate the cooking staff for their timely response. I have instructed the police to find out the culprits and ensure they are punished,' he posted on X. The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has taken note of the case and decided to register a suo-motu. Shashidhar Kosambe, a member of the commission, told The Hindu that the commission would take the issue seriously. 'The Superintendent of Police of Shivamogga should investigate the case and arrest those who committed the crime,' he said.
Time of India
27-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Demolition of Thiruvail govt school's old building opposed
Mangaluru: Parents, the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) and residents of a govt school in Thiruvail, Vamanjoor, have opposed the planned demolition of the school's old building, near an expanding highway. While the zilla panchayat cites safety risks, locals propose a retaining wall instead to save the school, which celebrated its centenary this year. The school is adjacent to the Mangaluru-Solapur National Highway-169 and was built in the 1960s. The old building has 10 classrooms, an auditorium, a smart class, and washrooms for boys and girls. The school has about 400 students who study in a newly constructed building, and the building to be demolished was abandoned after the new building was built. The school, which was on the verge of closure seven years ago with just 60 students, sprang back to life after several initiatives, and now provides education on par with private schools. Raghu Salian, a local contractor and alumnus, said that there is no immediate need to demolish the old building of the school; instead, constructing a retaining wall behind it would help it survive for a few more decades. The school building has served as a relief centre for flood victims, and hosted other activities. Salian mentioned that in the official correspondence of the panchayat, it has asked the school SDMC to demolish the old building. It has earmarked Rs 35,000 for the same, which has to be repaid after selling all the scrap from the building. "We are opposing this too. How can officials ask us to demolish and pay them? They should do it on their own and not us," he said. Salian further added that even if the officials still want to go ahead and execute the plan, they can do so, but alumni, locals, and parents have put some conditions before demolition. They are: SDMC will not do the demolition; the day after the demolition, a retaining wall has to be built across the school compound abutting the national highway; they should also build a washroom in advance, before the demolition and construction of new classrooms. "Constructing a retaining wall itself will cost around Rs 1 crore," said Salian. In fact, the demolition of the school was in the ongoing national highway project. Salian said after the request, NHAI officials were kind not to carry out any demolition, changed their plan, and also built a retaining wall. When contacted, ZP CEO Anandh K said that the old building was supposed to be demolished as per the NHAI plan, but was saved. However, they received full compensation for the same. Secondly, the decision to demolish the old building was taken after consultation with officials as the area around it is prone to mudslides. "The decision is taken keeping the safety of children and commuters," he stressed.
Time of India
16-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Rs 1,000 FD for enrolment: Headmaster's push to save govt school
Koppal: When govt schools are facing a scarcity of students, a govt lower primary school in Hire Sindogi village in Koppal district maintained the same strength due to the headmaster's offer of providing a fixed deposit of Rs 1,000 for students getting admission to Class 1. He is also offering notebooks, school bags, belts, ties, t-shirt uniforms, and belts for about 30 students from classes 1 to 5. Guruswamy R, headmaster, told TOI that it's his small service to poor children, and an effort to save govt schools. "I have been serving here for 10 years and I started offering FD and learning material from 2020," he added. He further said, "The intake of 6-7 students continued for the past five years, though there is an English medium school in the village. We kept FD for a total of 23 students. As some parents preferred the Sukanya Samruddhi scheme of the post office, we paid Rs 1,000 as the initial amount and parents themselves are paying the later instalments. With the amount, parents opened savings bank accounts in either the post office or a nationalised bank to maintain the FD of their wards. " Gavisiddappa Mannammanavar, chairman, School Development and Monitoring Committee, commented that attendance improved to 99% after the headmaster's initiative of opening an FD account in students' names and providing learning material. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play Chess on Your PC, Free Play Classic Chess Install Now Undo "The initiative created awareness about educating and banking among poor parents," he remarked. Nandini Koravar, Mallikarjun Madiwalar, Girija Yatnatti, Manjunath Mannammanavar, and other students said they were provided with t-shirt uniforms to wear on Saturdays, apart from govt-supplied uniforms. We feel great to study here, they affirmed.
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Edu dept issues notice to 207 schools over poor SSLC results
Koppal: The education department of Koppal district has issued notices to 207 school principals, including 132 from govt schools, whose performance fell below the district average in this year's SSLC examination. "We wish to identify the teachers' duties and the impediments to better results," said DDPI Srishail Biradar. The district achieved a 56.6% pass rate, with 92 schools scoring below 40%. Koppal district, which ranked 16th in the state three years ago, dropped to 32nd position with 66.2% two years ago. The recent results show a further decline to 56.6%. Koppal district contains 342 high schools: 107 in Gangavathi, 85 in Koppal and Yalburga and 65 in Kushtagi educational taluk. The distribution includes 219 govt, 32 aided and 91 unaided schools, with govt schools showing a significant decline. Schools scoring below 40% include 25 in Gangavathi, 29 in Koppal taluk, 17 in Kushtagi taluk and 21 in Yalburga educational taluk. There are concerns regarding the quality of children's reading, the teaching capabilities of teachers, the state of the school environment and the consistency of student attendance. The notice aims to gather information for improving results in the next academic year. The education department will analyse the headmasters' responses to create a comprehensive report. Govt school headmasters have voiced their opposition. One headteacher, speaking anonymously, notes, "According to govt rules, schools should run for 220 days a year. However, this is only possible on paper. A lot of time is being wasted on works for govt departments and local administration programmes." The headteachers said the department failed to implement measures to uphold the quality of education at the primary level. "It does not hold primary school teachers accountable for the academic shortcomings of students," they said. They said, "Most crucially, children who do not achieve even a basic level of learning are not permitted to fail. As a result, these underperforming students are advancing to SSLC, leading to a decline in overall results. How can only high school teachers be blamed for this?" Teachers have expressed worries about local political meddling, SDMC (School Development and Monitoring Committee) involvement, their deployment for non-teaching duties and harassment from education officials under the guise of inspections, all of which negatively impact teaching standards. Teachers are also deliberating on what would constitute an appropriate response to the notice without risking consequences.
The Hindu
06-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Government extends distribution of eggs/bananas to children in pre-primary classes in government schools
The Karnataka government has extended the distribution of eggs and bananas to children in pre-primary classes of government schools from the academic year 2025-26. With this, a total of 1,98,270 pre-primary students in government schools across the State have become beneficiaries of the scheme. Children who do not consume eggs will be given two bananas every day, on all working days. Earlier, eggs and bananas were being provided to only students of class 1 to class 10 of government and aided schools. The State government issued an order on June 5 to distribute eggs and bananas as supplementary nutrition to students in collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation. Total beneficiaries Till 2024-25, there were 2,619 pre-primary classes in government schools across the State. In view of the huge demand, they were started in 5,000 more government schools from this academic year at a cost of about ₹70 crore. The State's School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) has welcomed the government's move to extend egg/banana distribution to pre-primary students. 'Distribution of eggs/bananas is beneficial for the physical and mental development of young children,' said Umesh G. Gangavadi, president of the SDMC. Last year, groundnut chikkis used to be given to children who did not eat eggs and bananas. However, the government stopped their distribution because the suppliers provided poor quality chikkis. The State government has earmarked a total of ₹755.62 crore this year for the distribution of eggs/bananas to students from pre-primary classes to class 10. With this, 51,61,390 children — 40,47,461 in government schools and 11,13,929 government-aided schools, will be the beneficiaries of the scheme. The foundation signed an agreement with the government last year to provide a grant of ₹1,500 crore for three years for the distribution of eggs/bananas as additional nutrition to government school children. Accordingly, this year, the foundation is providing ₹501.68 crore, and the remaining ₹253.94 crore will be borne by the State government. Emphasis on transparency To ensure transparency in the scheme, the attendance of all children who are in school at 11 a.m. every day is collected and entered in the Student Achievement Tracking System (SATS) portal. The headmaster of schools has been instructed to confirm this information with an e-signature through OTP and submit it to the Commissioner of Public Instruction and other department officials. Every day, during morning prayer, the headmaster should inform the students about the nutrients and benefits of eggs and bananas. In addition, at least 10 parents should be invited by the headmaster every week randomly to have midday meals with the schoolchildren. Increase the unit cost In view of the price rise, there has been a demand from teachers of government schools to increase the unit cost given by the government for eggs/bananas. 'An egg costs around ₹6.50 in the market. And, a medium-sized banana costs at least ₹5. However, the government has fixed a unit cost of just ₹6 for an egg/banana. The government has instructed us to provide two good-quality bananas to children who do not eat eggs. At least ₹10 to ₹12 has to be paid for two bananas. This will create a huge financial burden on teachers. Therefore, the government should increase the unit cost of eggs/bananas,' said the headmaster of a government school in Bengaluru.
