Improving school infrastructure, programmes to improve learning outcomes announced In Karnataka budget
Announcing schemes for the education sector in the state, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday allocated Rs 850 crore towards improving infrastructure in government schools and pre-university colleges in Karnataka, and listed various programmes to improve learning outcomes.
He also announced that more Karnataka Public Schools will be established, to provide pre-primary to pre-university education, while 2,000 government primary schools will be upgraded as bilingual schools. As of May 2021, the state has a total of 276 Karnataka Public Schools.
The University of Vishweshwaraiah College of Engineering will also be upgraded on the lines of IITs at a cost of Rs 100 crore, the chief minister announced. Presenting the state budget for 2024-25 in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah said, “Our government has given a strong emphasis on improving infrastructure in government schools and pre-university colleges. In 2023-24, an expenditure of Rs 600 crore was made towards this end. In the current year, Rs 850 crore will be provided for this purpose.”
More Karnataka Public Schools will be started with the objective of providing pre-primary to pre-university education under one roof with the help of CSR grants.
The Ganitha-Ganaka programme will be started in collaboration with J-PAL Institute for students in classes 3 to 5, Siddaramaiah announced. The purpose of this programme is to make children like and learn mathematics, he added.
The chief minister of Karnataka State, India, announced a new education budget dedicated to improving education infrastructure in government schools and pre-university colleges as well as launching programmes to improve learning programmes. One such programme is an informal maths game initiative launched in collaboration with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South Asia to enhance grades 3 to 5 students' interest in mathematics. J-PAL has scaled up an informal maths game across five states in India following a successful multi-round randomised control trial completed in 2017 and co-authored by Esther Duflo that examined the impact of maths games on children's learning of school mathematics.