53,700 vacancies! Big ‘hole’ in govt schools

Belagavi: Karnataka government schools have vacancies of 53,700 teachers and staff including primary and secondary schools, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh said on Thursday.

In a written reply to a question raised by Bailahongal MLA Kaujalgi Mahantesh Shivanand, Nagesh said there are 41,869 posts vacant in primary schools, 8,292 in secondary schools and 3,292 in the pre-university colleges. Shivanand wanted to know when and how the new National Education Policy will be implemented in the state. The NEP has been introduced by the Centre to bring reform in the education sector, mainly aimed at making it more practical.The Minister said it has started the process of hiring 18,000 and 5,078 guest teachers in primary schools and secondary schools respectively.

Nagesh said the NEP has been implemented following the recommendation of former Chief Secretary S V Ranganath-led 15-member task force. He also told the House that the government is introducing the NEP in stages.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government introduced three bills including the AYUSH University Bill and University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering Bill in the state assembly. The AYUSH University at Shivamogga is aimed at developing a university of excellence in Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy.

There is an approximate expenditure of Rs 20 crore by utilising the facilities in the AYUSH College and hence there is no extra expenditure involved. Regarding the UVCE in Bengaluru, the government said it was a premier engineering institution, established in 1917. The government said it was considering upgrading it and granting autonomy with a view to empower the institution.