By Viju Mangalore for Daijiworld News Network Mangalore

Mangalore, Apr 28: Among the several titles bagged by Dakshina Kannada district is the coveted ‘Education Hub of the State’, which places the coastal district high in the education map of the state.

 The quality of education imparted and education Institutions are hailed nation-wide. From the premier institutions like the National Institute of Technology- Karnataka to the several medical colleges, professional colleges and schools, education level of the people here is considered highest in the state.

That is indeed a rosy picture and one will be proud of it.

But the other side of the coin is a despondent state of the government schools, which contradicts the statements mentioned above.

A survey done in Dakshina Kannada has brought to light the pathetic state of the schools of the DK.

There are 402 lower primary schools with 1, 72,435 students and 970 higher primary schools with 96,144 students in the district. According to records the student –teacher ratio is 1:24, but in DK district there is a shortage of 379 teachers.

About 466 schools needed toilets for girls, 171 schools general toilets, 417 new classrooms, 58 schools drinking water facilities, 632 schools compound wall, 161 schools electricity connection, 289 schools playgrounds, 802 schools needs ramps for the physically disabled children.

Basic infrastructure is a dearth here.

An insight into the state of government schools will give us the exact picture.

During the last academic year there were a total of 2,58,172 students  (Std 1-7) studying in government Schools of the DK education district of which the boys were 1,33,541 and girls 1,24,631. However the number of students studying in (Std 8-10) is 10,3621 of which 53,952 were boys and 49,669 were girls. The number of school dropouts was around 1,500 of which the Department of Public Instructions has traced 532 children for rehabilitation.

According to the information obtained from Education Management Information System (EMIS) 2004 survey 292 schools do not have playgrounds. Bantwal has 68 schools with no playground of its own, Beltangady 55, Mangalore City 14, Mangalore Taluk 53, Moodbidri 23, Puttur 37 and Sullia 42

Around 20 schools have less than 30 pupils each in the Std 1-5

Among the schools which do not have a building of their own are the Government High School Adyapady (The schools is functioning in the primary school building), Government High School Someshwar Uchil (rented building), Government High School Baikampady (rented building), Government High School Kasaba Bengre (The schools is functioning in the primary school building) and Government High School Dholpady (the building is under construction)

A total of 559 lower primary schools and 73 higher primary schools do not have compound walls around them to ensure safety of the children within its campus.

Around 90 lower primary schools in DK district do not have electricity. There are 24 such schools in Bantwal taluk, 29 in Beltangady, 10 in Mangalore taluk, 4 in Moodbidri, 12 in Puttur and 20 in Sullia

Fifty-five lower primary schools and 10 higher primary schools do not have drinking water facility.

Beltangady taluk alone has 34 schools without toilet facilities. The district has 114 schools without toilet facilities.

A total of 273 teachers’ posts are vacant out of the 4588 sanctioned posts in the primary section, 205 vacant posts in the high school section, which sums up to a total of 478 vacant posts.

With this pathetic condition of our schools, is the title ‘Education Hub of the State’ justified?

Not to lose hope, the silver lining here is the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched by the Central Government under which infrastructure facilities are being provided to government schools. The scheme is also extended to DK district and several schools are being provided funds for setting up buildings, water and toilet facilities.

(NOTE: All statistics mentioned in this article here obtained from a survey by a private agency and from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) 2004 survey undertaken by the Education Department)