From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jun 24 : Believe it or not but as many as 81 First Grade Government Degree Colleges in Karnataka have no drinking water facility in the college premises.
This shocking fact was disclosed by the State’s new Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddy after a review meeting with senior officials of his department in Bengaluru on Friday.
"This is a very sad situation and cannot be allowed to continue,’’ the minister said and told reporters that he has directed the officials to take steps to drill borewells and install pump-sets to provide drinking water for students studying in colleges.
A sum of Rs 2 crore was necessary to drill borewells, he said and assured that funds would be made available.
The minister said the State Government has decided to make yoga mandatory in all government and aided degree colleges in the State in the larger interests of helping the students to gain mental and physical fitness.
Yoga classes would be introduced in colleges from this academic year, he said.
Officials have been asked to make necessary arrangements to introduce yoga classes in all degree colleges.
Instructors would be appointed in all colleges for imparting yoga for students, he said.
Karnataka has over 400 government first grade colleges.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has already announced that yoga would be introduced in primary and secondary schools in a phased manner.
The minister said National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Cadet Course (NCC) would also be made more relevant in degree colleges by roping all students.
Personality development classes would be introduced under NSS to make the courses more relevant, Rayareddy added.
Student Tracking System From July: TanveerSait
The ambitious Student Tracking System in collaboration with Infosys Foundation is set to be a reality from July, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister TanveerSait.
The programme seeks to monitor the academic progress, drop out and other aspects of about 45 lakh students from class 1 to 10 in all government schools to start with.
The programme would be extended to cover students in all the schoolslater.
Each student would be assigned a unique identification number and progress of the student would be monitored constantly to improve the academic performance and prevent drop outs, Sait said.
The minister said that distribution of bicycles, uniforms and text books would be completed by the end of July.
The State Government has decided to conduct a Demand Survey for opening of new government schools or relocation of existing schools in the light of drop in number of students in many government schools, he said.
The minister assured effective measures to ramp up the education standard in government schools on par with private schools.
Corporate Houses would be involved in a big way under the Corporate Social Responsibility obligation to improve the infrastructure level in government schools under the ``Adopt A School’’ scheme, Sait said.
Those who have missed regular schooling and wish to appear as private candidates for SSLC examination would soon have the benefit of attending teaching classes in regular schools to empower them to do well in examinations.
The State Government is considering a proposal for conducting special classes in the evening for them in government schools, he added.