Kalaburagi, 14 November

The Students' Federation of India (SFI) staged a protest in Kalaburagi on Friday, opposing the Karnataka government's decision to link 2,000 government schools with private institutions and merge government schools under the Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) initiative. 

The organisation demanded the immediate withdrawal of both proposals and called for measures to strengthen the public education system.

The SFI said the partnership with private schools would gradually pave the way for privatisation of public education.

Under the 'Namma Shaale Namma Javabdari' (Our School, Our Responsibility) programme, the CM had announced plans to link 2,000 government schools with private institutions, with 1,000 schools covered in the first phase. Private schools contributing to the development of government schools would also be allowed to add their names alongside those of government schools.

SFI Kalaburagi District Committee President Sujatha Y said Karnataka has approximately 47,493 government educational institutions, including 19,603 primary schools, 21,676 higher primary schools, 4,895 high schools and 1,319 pre-university colleges. In addition, 309 Karnataka Public Schools provide education from LKG to Class 12.

Highlighting the declining enrolment in government schools, the SFI said enrolment fell from 47.1 lakh in 2015-16 to 38.2 lakh in 2025-26. The share of government schools in total enrolment also dropped from 46 per cent to 38 per cent. But enrolment in private schools increased from 36.3 lakh to 47 lakh.

Around 25,683 government schools had 50 or fewer students in 2025-26.

Sujatha alleged that the decline was due to inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortages, and delayed distribution of textbooks. It also criticised the government for not effectively implementing student welfare schemes.