BENGALURU: Last year, Karnataka saw mass migration of children from private schools to neighbourhood government institutions when campuses were shut due to the pandemic.
One year on, many private schools, especially those in rural areas, claim students have slowly begun to return.
However, several government schools and block education officers denied the claims of private schools, saying they’re continuing to get children from private schools this year too.
Private schools in various parts of the state say their children who had left for government schools are slowly coming back after offline classes started. “The trend is clearly visible across our member-schools in the state,” said Lokesh Talikatte, president, Recognised Unaided Private Schools Management Association (RUPSA).
“In six schools, we had 3,800 children before Covid. The number fell to 2,900 last year, with around 800 of them moving to government schools. Now, around 400 have returned. I held an admission mela recently in Chikkamagaluru and Chitradurga. About 100 of our students who had gone to government schools returned in three days,” said Lokesh, who runs six Sandeepani Group of Institutions in both districts.
Jayanna H, secretary of Rashtrotthana Vidya Kendra, Davanagere, said about 90% of their children are back. “They were not satisfied with the facilities and quality of education in government schools,” he said.
The principal of a private school in Chikkamagaluru said of their 30 students who switched to government schools last year, 20 have come back. “The learning gaps are so big that we’ve started teaching from the alphabets even in classes 5 and 6. When parents see our effort, they understand what they are missing,” she said.“Last year, private schools were not running but were still taking fees...Parents did not see the point of paying fees to a school their kids did not attend and took TCs. Now that they have seen how government schools are, they want to come back,” said Lokesh.
T M Umapathaia of St Johns Baptist Educational Association in Davanagere said students find it difficult to adjust to government schools.
However, BEOs, deputy directors of public instruction and government schools, when randomly approached, denied these claims. “Students continue to shift from private to government schools this year. In some places, we find the numbers more,” said an official. “In our area, we do not see reverse migration. We continue to get kids from private schools. The issue is that private schools are not issuing TCs to children, making it difficult for them to apply for scholarship,” said Moideen Kutty, president of the SDMC in Uppinangady, DK.
