Karnataka eyes Rs 2,000 crore boost in CSR funds for transforming govt schools

As part of the collaboration, the department of school education has identified 2,000 schools across Karnataka and seven focus areas for CSR interventions to improve learning and student wellbeing. The areas of intervention include infrastructure, early childhood care and education (ECCE), library, vocational education, tinkering labs, science labs and ICT labs. The government appealed to companies to allocate an average expenditure ranging from Rs 2 crore to redevelop existing schools. Meanwhile, the government appealed to companies to invest Rs 8 crore in starting a new greenfield school.

Under this programme, the companies will play a critical role in plugging various operational and academic gaps in the identified areas over the next five years. According to B B Cauvery, commissioner of public instruction, Rs 2,000 crore worth of CSR funds is required for 500 schools as part of phase 1 implementation. Out of these, Rs 572 crore will be invested in the Belagavi division for 143 schools, Rs 580 crore for the Kalaburagi division with 145 schools, Rs 436 crore in the Mysuru division with 109 schools, and Rs 412 crore in the Bengaluru division with 103 schools.

With the CSR initiative, the government aims to increase enrollment in government schools, improve foundational literacy and numeracy skills to 75 per cent by 2025-26, improve SSLC and PU graduation rates by 20 percent, reduce the dropout rates in higher stages by 50 per cent, and ensure 100 per cent education of children with special needs.

The program aims to enhance learning outcomes in mathematics, science, and English by 20 per cent. It also seeks to improve access to vocational education across districts by 20 per cent, creating pathways to higher education and employment. This will be monitored and evaluated by Theataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority (KMEA).

CSR partners can opt for a comprehensive approach by undertaking initiatives in a single school or a group of schools on specific programmes. The government also mandates CBSE, ICSE and International Baccalaureate (IB) schools to adopt and provide mentoring to at least one Karnataka Model Schools under this programme.

Ritesh Kumar Singh, principal secretary, department of school education, said, “A special project management unit under commissioner of school education will regularly monitor and review the programme’s effectiveness based on the defined outcomes and will be the single point of contact for CSR partners. As state-level nodal officers will be present in the districts to handhold the CSR partners and at the district level, the deputy commissioner and chief executive officer, Zilla panchayat, will personally facilitate the implementation of this project.”

Additionally, the progress will be reviewed quarterly with the various stakeholders at the level of the chief secretary of the government of Karnataka.

This is not the first time the Karnataka government is exploring CSR initiatives for developing model schools. Karnataka has attracted the highest allocation of CSR funds in the education sector, with a whopping Rs 3,667 crore from 2016 to 2022, according to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Select government schools in Ramanagara district have been developed as model schools in the last two to three years with CSR funds from Toyota Kirloskar Motors. With this, the dwindling enrolments in schools resulted in a drastic shift, with some schools seeing admissions jump to over 700 from a mere 400.

The development of model schools is also seen as a move to attract students from nearby government schools, especially those with less than 10 students. Many villagers fear that such schools, which are close to their houses, will be shut, and children will be forced to travel long distances to the model school without transportation facilities. According to school education minister Madhu Bangarappa, over 6000 schools in Karnataka have less than 10 students.

Shivakumar said, “We aim to stop the migration of students and subsequently their parents to Bengaluru in search of education. This PPP model to develop schools will help children remain and pursue education in their own villages. This model will ensure that the quality of education in government schools is on par with private schools. DCs should be accountable for the judicious use of the CSR funds and ensure that they are spent in the right direction.”