The state government has said that all the students whose schools have been closed because of low attendance would be given Rs300 a month towards transportation.
The government made the statement in Karnataka high court on Monday. It was asked to file objections to the public interest litigation (PIL) of noted writers, who challenged the decision to close schools on account of low attendance.
Poet GS Shivarudrappa, Jnanpith awardees Chandrashekar B Kambar, UR Ananthamurthy and Girish Karnad have filed the PIL.
They had questioned the government’s circular dated September 24, 2011, regarding closing 2,482 lower primary schools and 74 higher primary schools because these schools had less than five students.
The state government justified its decision in the high court on Monday. The government said it was aware that the students would have to travel to a different school—which, though, would be within 3km of their neighbourhood—once their school is closed and for that, each student would be given Rs300 a month. Further, the government contended that all the facilities should be provided to the students under one roof to enhance their involvement in education and for that, a healthy student strength was necessary.
The government pointed out that there are 131 schools with no students and about 551 schools having less than five students. The total number of schools that will be merged is 353 for lower primary schools and nine for higher primary schools.
