At a time when the government finds it difficult to run schools that have just a few students and often decides to close them or merge them with the nearest school, people of Hassan district have joined hands with the Education Department to open pre-schools in 71 government schools in the last seven years.
The student strength of these schools, called Makkala Mane, varies from five to 200, with the one at Banavara, started in 2011, having 200 students. A total of 1,765 students are studying in these schools in the district.
Started in 2011
The department began this experiment in 2011 as a measure to retain the student strength in government schools. Around 10 pre-schools were started that year, thanks to the efforts of the then Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) A.T. Chamaraj.
The first year, the department provided ₹10,000 to each schools; however, it wasn’t sufficient. The School Development Monitoring Committees collected a nominal fee from parents and accepted donations to purchase furniture.
Gradually, more students started enrolling because English is taught as a language. Moreover, the fee — which is between ₹100 and ₹250 a month — is very low when compared with private schools.
Baladeva Murthy, headmaster of Government Higher Primary School at Hassan, said, “When we started the pre-school, there was only one teacher. Now the student strength has increased and we have appointed one more teacher, besides a help. We pay the teachers’ salary from the fee collected from parents.”
The government primary school at Banavara has appointed four teachers for the pre-school.
H. Manjunath, DDPI of Hassan, said the pre-schools have been running because of the active role played by the SDMCs and the cooperation of the public.
“The department is not providing any financial support to these schools,” he said. A few parents have been paying more than the fixed fee, while in some places villagers have contributed funds for basic infrastructure.
‘Offering aid’
The only way to strengthen government schools is to improve infrastructure and the quality of education. “The teachers at Makkala Mane centres have been working for a salary of a few hundred rupees. The government should support the pre-schools by offering financial support and with that, the government schools could be strengthened,” said A. Rohith, a lecturer whose daughter goes to a Makkala Mane.