CHAPTER TWO

Social Development in North Karnataka: Status of Educational Development

After the state formation in 1956 the democratic state of Karnataka has intervened in

the society and polity with plethora of policy packages aimed at promoting balanced

development. The state, which was first called as the 'Mysore State', was renamed as

Karnataka in 1973. It was an amalgamation of regions from the erstwhile Bombay and

Madras presidency, Nizam's Hyderabad, Coorg and the princely state of Mysore. As

we have analyzed in our previous chapter, these regions were in varying phases of

development, which have had an impact on the post-unification development pattern

of the state of Karnataka.

At this backdrop, the present chapter intends to analyse the pattern of social

development in the post-1956 Karnataka, particularly the education sector. Social

development is often the cumulative effect of policy formulation that is decided by

the strength of the economy. Hence, an attempt is made in the study to understand the

general status of the economy of the state. The whole chapter is divided into two

sections. Section one looks at the conventional indicators of economic development

such as per capita district income, agricultural and industrial development,

infrastructural developments along with a cursory look on power generation in the

state. The second section will analyse and status of education in northern districts of

the state of Karnataka. In both the approaches to development, major emphasis has

been placed on the prevalence of developmental lags across the districts within

northern region of the state so as to enable the study to mark the level of development

between the Bombay-Karnataka and the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

Before analysing indicators of social development, it is important to know the

administrative structure and the general overview of the economy of the state. After

the formation of the state in 1956, the entire state has been divided into four

administrative divisions such as Bangalore Division (49,666 Sq.kms), Mysore

Division (43,473 Sq.kms), Belgaum Division (54,514 Sq.kms) and Gulbarga Division

(44,138 Sq.kms). 1 Since 1956, there have been no territorial changes in the total area

of the state except for the creation of new districts in 1986 and 1997. An additional

Kamataka At A Glance 2003-2004, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005, p.24.

66

Bangalore Rural district was carved out of Bangalore district in 1986 and seven new

more districts were created in 1997 taking the total number of districts from 20 to 27.2

However the area under respective divisions has remained the same. The following

Table 2.1 shows the total geographical size of different regions/divisions of the state

and their demographic features, which is an important factor to be kept in mind while

studying the status of education and intra-regional allocation of developmental

activities in the state.

Table 2.1 Demographic Features of Different Regions of Karnataka

Region Name of Total Total Total Total Density of constituting Number of Number of Area (in Population Population Districts Districts Taluks Sq.Km)

Bombay- Belgaum, Bijapur, 7 49 54514 13042163 ---Karnataka Bagalkot, (28.42) (24.67)

Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and U. Kannada

Hyderabad- Bellary, Bidar, 5 31 44138 9526286 ---Karnataka Gulbarga, Raichur (23.01) (18.02)

and Koppal North 12 80 98652 22568449 229 Karnataka (51.43) (42.69) South Bangalore (U), 15 96 93139 30282113 325 Karnataka Bangalore (R), (48.56) (57.29)

Kolar, Shimoga, Tumkur, Chikmagalur, Davangere, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Mandya, Hassan, Mysore, Chamarajanagar.

STATE 27 176 191791 52850562 275 .. Source: Compiled from Karnataka at a Glance 2003-2004, Directorate of Economics and Statistics,

Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005, p.24, and Census Report, 2001, Government of India.

From the above table, it is evident that the northern part of the state forms half

of the total geographical area of the state and 43 per cent of the total population in the

state. Similarly, within North Karnataka, the Bombay-Karnataka region is slightly

In 1997, seven new districts viz. Chamarajanagar from erstwhile Mysore, Davangere from Chitradurga, Bagalkot from Bijapur, Gadag and Haveri from Dharwad, Udupi from Dakshina Kannada and Koppal from Raichur district were created vide Government of Karnataka notification No. RD 42,LRD 87 Part-III, Bangalore dated 2-8-1997. See Census of India -2001,Provisional Population Totals, Directorate of Census Operations, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2001,p.l.

67

bigger in size as well as population density in comparison with the Hyderabad­

Karnataka region. Administratively, the whole of North Karnataka is divided into two

administrative divisions having headquarters at Belgaum and Gulbarga.

I

General Status ofKarnataka's Economy

The present state ofKarnataka has been viewed as the middle performing state

in India. In the recent past, the state has attracted favorable national and international

attention of both scholars and development agencies. In fact, it is cited as one of the

most investor-friendly states in India. The capital city, Bangalore, in particular has

been identified as the Silicon Valley of the East and the Center of Sunrise Industries.

It is well known all over the world for the lead it has taken in developing computer

software although it is another matter that some of the peripheral regions of the state

are pushed to the background owing to the political and socio-economic factors. In

this center-periphery syndrome that has been emerging in the state of Karnataka, it is

important to understand the growth trajectory of development towards industry and

agriculture in the state, which has been uneven and region-specific. In the recent past,

the state of Karnataka has directed its development policy in tune with the ongoing

economic reforms that have made remarkable shift in the development policy of

developing states, particularly with social sector.

The tertiary sector i.e., the service sector has rapidly expanded with sluggish

industrial growth, so much so that the share of manufacturing (secondary sector) has

slummed from 37.5 per cent in 1993-94 to 28.6 in 1997-98. Similarly, the fall in the

share of primary sector (agriculture and allied activity) had been slower in the same

period.3 Besides, the state of Karnataka is undergoing a major transition in its

economy with various challenges ahead. In this regard, it is significant to know the

status of the economy and its spatial distribution before studying the social sector in

detail. In this context, the present chapter makes an attempt to provide a brief review

of the status ofKarnataka's economy.

Renuka Vishwanathan, "Economy on the Move", Economic and Political Weekly, March 23, 2002, p.III6.

68

District Income:

District income has been the single most important yardstick not only to

measure economic development but also to formulate plans at the district level in a

decentralized planning. Besides, district income brings to light the existing

backwardness of districts so that plans can be formulated based on the levels of

backwardness across districts within a region. There have been wide variations in the

economic performance of the districts within the state in overall terms across sectors.

It was because of the fact that the state has mobilized low resources which in turn has

led to low deployment of resources in districts causing regional variations in

development across the districts in the state. In this process, the regions with poor

infrastructure are the worst sufferers. The varied allocation of resources under the

different plans in the state reflects the huge variations of per capita income of the

districts. All the twelve districts of North Karnataka and few districts like

Chitradurga, Kolar, Tumkur and Chamarajanagar from South Karnataka have per

capita income below the state average of Rs. 17,518 at current prices (200 1-02).4

Within North Karnataka, the Hyderabad-Kamataka region comprising of five

districts, viz., Bidar, Bellary, Koppal, Gulbarga and Raichur lag behind and has very

poor per capita income while Bangalore, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada cluster at the

top. The district of Raichur has the lowest per capita income of Rs.1 0970 while the

district of Bangalore has per capita income of Rs.31804 at current prices (200 1-02).

Any analysis of Kamataka's post-unification development process must

involve an enquiry into the state of agriculture and provision of irrigational facilities

across the districts. Agricultural has been the most significant economic activity in the

state as it contributes nearly 34 per cent of the State Domestic Product (SDP) as

against the all-India average of 28.8 per cent. More than 69 per cent of the state

population continues to be engaged in this sector.5 It is needless to state that

agriculture has been the predominant source of livelihood of rural people in the state

as 66.02 per cent of the population lives in rural areas in Kamataka.6 Incidentally, its

growth and spread has been uneven in Kamataka.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has delineated ten agro­

climatic sub-regions in Kamataka based on soil, water and climate upto the taluk

4

6

Kamataka At A Glance 2002-03, Published by Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government ofKamataka, Bangalore, p.S. Kalipada Deb,"Development and Disparities, Experiences from Southern India", Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 200l,p-269. Census oflndia, Provisional Population Totals for Karnataka, Paper II, 2001, p.75.

69

level.7 Among the ten zones, the Bombay-Karnataka and the Hyderabad-Karnataka in

the northern zone have been a dry and lagging region in terms of agricultural

development. Besides, the rate of public and private investments in this region has

been low and hence these two regions continue to remain agriculturally backward too.

Due to the absence of adequate agricultural inputs the state has not been able to

effectively participate in industrial change besides failing to make any strong forays in

industrial development except in the regions surrounding the cities of south

Karnataka.8 This emphasizes the agricultural backwardness of the periphery, which is

intrinsically associated with the poor industrial scenario in the northern regions of the

state, which is by and large a drought-prone area.

The agricultural backwardness, particularly ofthe northern districts in the state

has been the cumulative outcome of the small land holdings, diversified crop system,

lack of assured irrigation, lack of basic infrastructure for supply of inputs and

marketing facilities for the agricultural products, inadequate growth of non-farming

activities such as dairy and poultry. Apart from the dry and rain-starved topography of

the region, the size of land holding and pattern of land ownership determines, to a

large extent, the magnitude of gains that can be derived from the farming sector

through adopting advanced technology as well as mechanization of agriculture. The

average size of land holding in Karnataka declined from 2.41 hectares in 1985-86 to

1.85 hectares in 1991-92. Despite this, the number of sub marginal land holdings

increased significantly in Karnataka. Holdings with one hectare or less, constituted

32.7 per cent of the total and those with 0.20 hectares or less constituted 21.2 per cent

in Karnataka. This, however, placed small farmers in an economically inadequate

position, as they were unable to command the required resources.

The growing number of small and marginal farmers with less than one hectare

of land has been the outcome of the partial success of land reforms in the state. As in

other states, by the mid-1950s, land reform measures replaced Brahmin absentee

landlord in Karnataka. The Karnataka Land Reforms Act 1961 was passed in 1962

For a profile of agriculture in Karnataka, See D. Jeevan Kumar, "Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security", in D. Jeevan Kumar and Susheela Subrahmanya (eds), Vision Karnataka 2025 Strategies and Action Plans for Sustainable Development, A Southern Economist Publication, Bangalore, 2001, pp.83-118. R.S.Deshpande and K.V.Raju, "Agricultural Development and Policy in Karnataka", in Arun P. Bali (ed), "Refashioning the &onomic Order Karnataka in Transition", Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 200l,p.l07.

70

and was able to be implemented only in 1965. This long delay in implementing the

Act provides a typical example of how the group interest operates against this major

measure through political pressures. Obviously, the Lingayats and the Vokkaligas,

who had acquired political and economic strength by then, had the substantial control

over landholdings, which together accounted for more than 67 per cent in 1967-68.

Their combined share in households operating 10 acres and above was 89.7 per cent

in 1961.9 However, these land reforms could not bring any substantial change in

redistribution of land holdings as these two communities managed to get a high

ceiling on land holdings as much as 27 standard acres per family of five members.

They also managed to get a differential ceiling on the basis of soil fertility, irrigational

facilities and land usage patterns as they commanded the state apparatus. All these

measures significantly helped these two dominant communities in the state. But the

1973 Land Reforms under Mr. Devaraj Urs on the basis of the Planning Commission

guidelines improved the situation to some extent. Despite these stringent land

reforms, the level of redistributions could not reduce the high concentration of land

holdings, as there were rampant benami registrations.

The partial success of land reforms in Karnataka failed to reduce the growing

number of small and marginal farmers, as there was no addition to their small land

holdings. This has seriously constrained any scope of mechanization of agriculture, as

it demands large land holdings with improved irrigational facilities. Moreover, the

growing economic inability of the farmers in northern districts of the state forced

them to embrace or adopt traditional land tilling and cultivation methods. It is clearly

reflected in the low use of High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of seeds, chemical

fertilizers and pesticides. Apart from these bottlenecks, caste hierarchies and feudal

control over land holdings characterized the society of North Karnataka.

Another crucial aspect that characterizes the agricultural backwardness,

particularly in dry zones, is the creation of greater irrigational facilities and

developing crops in accordance with the agro-climatic conditions. Although the total

irrigation potential of the state is estimated to be around 55 lakh hectares, the actual

area under irrigation is only 23 lakh hectares, which is significantly lower than the

Abdul Aziz and Thimmaiah G, The Political Economy of Land Reforms in India, Ashish Publications, New Delhi, 1984, p.27.

71

Indian average of 32 per cent. 10 Moreover, the state has been depending to a large

extent on the two lifelines, i.e., Krishna and Tungabhadra Rivers for the northern

region and Cauvery and its tributaries for the southern region of the state.

Unfortunately, the state has been having a running battle with Tamil Nadu and

Andhra Pradesh on Cauvery and Krishna, as well as with Maharashtra with Bheema

and Krishna over water sharing. Such inter-state disputes on sharing of river water has

seriously affected the potential of irrigational facilities, particularly in north

Karnataka where the lingering Upper Krishna Project (UKP) has been considered as

the most important prospect for North Karnataka. Besides, the provision of

irrigational facilities in the state has been uneven and tended to be concentrated

around few districts in southern Karnataka such as Mysore, Mandya and Hassan. The

districts of Gulbarga, Bidar and Bijapur in northern region of the state have recorded

low percentage of area under irrigation. It was as low as 1.3 per cent, 3.4 per cent and

3.2 per cent respectively. On the other hand, Shimoga had as much as 48 per cent,

Dakshina Kannada 35 per cent, and Mandya 32 per cent of area irrigated. The

situation did not show any sign of improvement even after three decades of planning

and the rate of disparity continue to accelerate. Many of the districts in the

Bombay-Karnataka region such as Belgaum with high irrigational facilities improved

their position, while the districts of Gulbarga and Bidar in the Hyderabad-Karnataka

region continued to remain backward and poorly irrigated. Similarly, the institutional

support in terms of provision of different inputs, particularly the HYV s, fertilizers etc.

have not been satisfactory and uniform in the state.

The marked regional imbalances in irrigation facilities and subsequent failures

of crops have created a drought situation in North Karnataka, particularly in the

Hyderabad-Karnataka region. It was manifested in the continuing spate of suicides

among farmers in North Kamataka. The suicides of farmers have been a clear

indication of the volatile socio-economic dynamics of the agricultural sector.

Significantly, these suicide cases which were originally concentrated in the

Hyderabad- Karnataka region following the failure of the Tur Dal crop during the late

1990s have spread over to the sugar belt in Dharwad-Hubli regions of the Bombay­

Karnataka in 2000-01. However, the factors responsible for suicides are attributed to

1° Kamataka At A Glance 1999-2000, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2000,p-32.

72

the fluctuations in the prices of agricultural products, higher reliance of farmers on

private rural credit. It is a clear reflection of the state's failure to evolve adequate

supportive mechanisms such as provision of institutional credit and minimum support

prices for the products. 11

Similarly, the industrial development in northern region of the state has been

sluggish and uneven. It is significantly important to look at advancements in industrial

sector in a predominantly agricultural region, where both the factors and techniques of

production operate within a traditional socio-economic framework. In such societies,

a major alternative source of augmenting economic activity as well as generating

greater income with high degree of employment eventually lies in the growth of the

industrial sector. In this regard, it is important to analyse the growth and spread of

industries in Karnataka, particularly during the phase of planned development of the

so-called modern technoJogy in the state.

An area wise glance at the industrial activity in the state brings out the fact

that spatial spread of industrial activities has been uneven and capricious. 12 However,

in the context of varied industrial development, it is imperative to highlight the

supply-side constraints such as lack of local entrepreneurial drive, poor infrastructure,

non-availability of local skilled labour, scope and extent of better technology

adaptation, etc. The demand-side bottlenecks like low income, accruing from almost

backward agriculture, prostate returns from non-farm activities and importantly, poor

agriculture-industry linkages, etc. In this situation, the nature and functioning of state

policies to integrate local resources with industries assumes great importance.

The state, with its rich natural resources, abundant minerals and favorable

industrial climate has provided a wide scope for industrial development. Although

industrialization in Karnataka started way back in the early 1900s, followed by Sir

Visveswaraiah's contribution, it presently accounts for only 6 per cent of the total

industries in the country. It constitutes about 30 per cent of the state income in

11 Supriya Roychowdhary, "Gathering Gloom" Deccan Herald, Bangalore, October 21 ,2001.She looks at increasing farmers suicides in the context of the ongoing economic reforms and its impact on farmers.

12 Majula Reddy, "Acceleeration and Spatial Distribution of Industrial Activity in Karnataka", Artha Vijnana, No.3, September 2000, p.250.

73

Karnataka. 13 But the experience of industrial growth in the post-Independence period,

particularly in the recent years has been uneven and unsatisfactory. As

industrialization gained momentum in the state, it was expected that the industrial

base would get diversified. However, that does not seem to have occurred in the state.

In fact, going by the available data, it reveals that the rate of industrial growth has not

only been restricted to certain sectors, but has also spread unevenly over the years.

As regards the spatial distribution of industries, most of the industrial settings

are concentrated in and around few developed districts. In this regard, Bangalore

district alone accounts for 46.5 per cent of the total industries in 1994-95, while three

more districts; Dharwad, Mysore and Dakshina Kannada together contributed another

20 per cent. In the total number of employees, the share of these three districts was 69

per cent. On the other hand, six districts viz., Kodagu, Bidar, Mandya, Uttara

Kannada, Hassan, and Chickmagalur had a combined share of only 4.5 per cent in

total number of industries and 5 per cent in total employment.

However, the industrial situation in terms of spatial distribution has not altered

much in 2004-05 compared to the figures in 1994-95. As evident from the available

data, Bangalore district alone accounts for 48.49 per cent of total industries in the

state followed by Belgaum district with 6.45 per cent. The districts of Kodagu,

Chickmagalur, Hassan and Bijapur account for very few industries. The region wise

distribution of industries shows that the Bombay-Karnataka and the Hyderabad­

Karnataka region registers as low as 8.76 and 14.76 per cent of the total industries in

the state respectively. The southern region continues to top with 77.46 per cent of the

total industries in the state. With respect to employment, the share of South Karnataka

is 77.50 whereas North Karnataka accounts for only 22.50 per cent of the total

employment. There exist significant disparities within North Karnataka as merely

6.31 per cent of employees are there in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region whereas the

Bombay-Karnataka region accounts for 16.20 per cent of employment.14 However,

the district of Bidar has made significant improvement over the years after it was

13 Hemalatha Rao, "Role of Karnataka in New Economic Order: Industrial Policy Reforms and Industrial Development" in Arun P. Bali (ed), Refashioning the Economic Order, Karnataka in Transition, Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 2001 ,p-195.

14 Kamataka At A Glance 2003-04, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005, p.SO.

74

selected as a 'No Industry District.t 5 under Central Government's policy. Since then,

there has been an extensive flow of investment in the district, leading to the growth of

many engineering, chemical and agro-based industries. 16

The second important feature of Karnataka's industrial strategy apart from its

uneven spatial growth has been its priority to "sunrise industries" such as software

technology, information technology, biotechnology, food processing technology,

floriculture, horticulture etc., while agro-based and metal-based small-scale industries

have been relegated to the background in the state. The "New Industrial Policy 2001"

has placed considerable and substantial emphasis on the need to promote small-scale

industrial bases in backward regions. But the government of Karnataka has failed to

recognize the importance of small-scale industries in the state and has not laid down

any policy framework. However, the new policy has created a corpus fund called

"The Industrial Development Fund" of Rs. I 00 crore specially to meet infrastructural

needs of the state's technology parks, industrial estates, and industrial corridors. 17 It is

noteworthy that the industrial policy, with high emphasis on high-tech industries,

provides no consistent efforts to integrate these industries with the development of

infrastructure, technical skill and resource generation within backward regions of the

state. Eventually, it has contributed to the growth of industrial centers in and around

developed regions, whereas, poor regions with no infrastructure continue to remain

backward. In this regard, it is noteworthy to observe that the districts of the

Hyderabad-Karnataka region continues to remain at a disadvantageous position. This

obviously raises certain basic questions such as neglect and misdirected state policies.

The idea of promotion of small-scale industries is mainly guided by the

Gandhian concept of development. In any developing economy, the small-scale

industries not only create adequate employment opportunities for rural people but also

generate income and enhance productivity of a region. Besides, they are known for

their adaptability and suitability in all locations. In addition to this, they are mobile

and insensitive to cost factors that influence the location of large-scale industries.

Hence, working groups appointed to study regional imbalances in dispersal of

industries has suggested a package of incentives for the backward areas to establish

15 "No Industry District" is a Central government policy. It was adopted in 1983 with an objective to develop industrially backward areas. It yielded good results in the development of backward regions. The district of Bidar in Karnataka is a case in point.

16 Devendra Babu, "Tasks Before the Task Force", Deccan Herald, Bangalore, February 25,2001. 17 Ravi Sharma, "In a High Growth Trajectory" Frontline, Chennai, Decemper 21,200J,p-65.

75

small-scale industries. 18 This speaks for the importance of small-scale industries in

developing backward regions. However, the spread of small scale industries and state

investment in promotion of small-scale industries has been significantly uneven. The

Bangalore division has accounted for about 48.23 per cent of investment in small­

scale industries during 1997-98 as against 12.48 per cent of investment in Gulbarga

division of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. Consequently, the Bangalore division

accounts for more than 40 per cent of the existing small-scale industries in 1999-2000

whereas, the Hyderabad-Karnataka region accounts for only 12.63 per cent to the state

total. In all, the entire northern parts of the state has as low as 28.96 per cent of state

investment and 35.44 per cent of total small scale industries in the region, whereas,

the figures for southern parts of the state has been significantly more. In terms of

output, again, two districts namely, Bangalore and Dakshina Kannada accounted for

as much as 60 per cent of the total value of the output from the sector in 1987-88,

whereas, the remaining districts contributed less than a quarter of the state total. In

terms of production per unit, the value ranged between the highest of Rs. 19.65 lakh

in Bangalore (Urban) and the lowest of Rs. 1.60 lakh in Gulbarga district. The share

of rural areas in total number of units also has been very low in many of the districts

of the state.19 Besides, the features that can be found at macro-level represents that the

small scale industries tend to concentrate in industrially developed regions of the

state. This tendency could be mainly due to the close relations of these small-scale

industrial units with the large industrial estates as both have forward and backward

linkages.

Needless to mention, availability of infrastructure plays a vital role of a

catalytic nature not only in industrial development, but also in the development of the

whole economy. The prevalence of infrastructural facilities across the districts has

been relatively weak and uneven in Karnataka. Making use of the available data on

individual infrastructural items like provision of road, railway connections, air links,

national highways, post offices, banks, telephone exchanges, power stations, etc., the

infrastructure development indices have been prepared for the districts of the state

Accordingly, the available data shows the wide gap in the provision of basic

facilities for industrial development in the districts of North Karnataka. The

18 Chandra Poojary, "Small Scale Sector: Myth and Reality", Economic and Political Weekly, May 25,1996, p.M-12.

19 Kalipada Deb, op.cit, no.5, p.306.

76

industrially developed districts like Bangalore, Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum, Mysore,

continue to top in the development index, whereas, Bidar, Raichur, Kodagu, Tumkur

are at the bottom of the index. In these rankings, an index prepared for the year 1991

by using ten infrastructural items gave Bangalore 33,140 as against less than 3,000 in

11 districts with Bidar having only 1,306.20 As the data indicates, the districts of

Bidar, Gulbarga and Raichur provide a very effective example of neglect by the state

in creating adequate infrastructure in the region. Although there has been significant

reduction in the backwardness of these regions, it has not been sufficient to keep pace

with the changing requirements of the economy.

Provision of air links to major cities forms yet another important component of

infrastructural package. Although the construction of international airport at

Devanahalli has been receiving state support, the development of air-links to other

parts of the state have been relegated to the background as one can be witnessed from

the example of considerable delay in developing Hubli airport. The Hubli airport,

which was one of the four recommended airports in the post-war reconstruction plan

of 1945, popularly known as "The Bombay Plan", has been closed down citing

reasons of inadequate infrastructural facilities. However, Hubli being a commercial

capital of North Karnataka can provide air link facility for foreign tourists to visit

historical sites like Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, apart from its proximity to the coastal

belt of Uttara Kannada. It can also extend its air services to other parts of the country,

thereby achieving total connectivity.21 Secondly, Hubli being a major cotton, oil seed

and food grain distribution market, would provide an opportunity to North Karnataka

businessmen to establish connections with other parts of the country. Similarly,

Gulbarga, the divisional headquarters ofthe five districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka

region, has been in need of an airport for many years. As this place is located closely

with many cement factories and tur production centers, a mini-airport could be built in

this region.

Power generation and its availability to domestic, industrial, and agricultural

sectors in Karnataka have been unsatisfactory. In fact, the shortage of power has

become a major cause of concern for the state to become a key industrial hub. The

20 Prahladachar M, "Industry in Hyderabad-Kamataka Region: Status and Outlook" Paper presented in a seminar on Hyderabad-Kamataka Economy: Problems and Prospects, Organised by Institute of Social and Economic Change, in Gulbarga, September 19-21,1994, p.S.

21 Shyam Sunder Vattem, "Take Off Delayed" Deccan Herald, Bangalore, March 2,2001.

77

power sector in Karnataka is characterized by frequent shutdowns, system failures,

and problems of lower frequencies and low voltage. Moreover, more than 42 per cent

ofthe power is lost during Transmission and Distribution (T&D), which also includes

power theft. In spite of these hardships, in power generation and supply, the state has

been a pioneer in power sector reforms. Accordingly, the Karnataka Power

Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) was set up. This state unit has been

unable to keep pace with the ever-growing demand from domestic, industrial and

agricultural sectors. Moreover, it has been debt-ridden and its distribution wings have

been inefficient over the years.22

The bleak power scenario in the state has acted as a deterrent for establishing

new industries and expanding and diversifying existing ones. Furthermore, this

situation has affected severely the northern districts of the state, where the Raichur

Thermal Power Station (RTPS) has become a sick unit. The perennial collapse of the

third, fifth and the sixth units of the RTPS has been attributed to the lack of

maintenance of these units?3 Besides, the RTPS has not been provided with 9uality

equipment. This raises some fundamental issues about the prospects of reviving the

only power generation unit in North Karnataka. Such lackluster maintenance and

mismanagement of RTPS has an extreme impact, particularly on the domestic and

agricultural needs of the regions, including power supply to Bangalore city.

Nevertheless, the above discussion of the sectoral performance of the districts

in major economic indicators, presents the uneven spatial spread of agricultural,

industrial, infrastructural development, including power generation and means of

transport and communication. In this regard, the districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka

including three districts of South Kamataka are significantly poor in terms of resource

allocation and· deployment of developmental activities. However, considerable

progress has been achieved in these districts as well. The state's policies aimed at

redressal of spatial unevenness have certainly made an impact on some of the many

factors, which determine growth rates and levels of development. Incidentally, the

human development aspects have been neglected, which can be noticed in the

subsequent Human Development Report of Karnataka in 1999. The report shows an

22 Ravi Sharma, op.cit, no.17, p.69. 23 Reasons accounted for repeated failure are due to thrust being given only to power generation

without giving necessary attention towards maintenance. Due to this the power generation in RTPS is said to have reduced by about 11 Million units in the last three years.

78

accelerated economic growth in the 1990s that has not translated into human

development. This is a reiteration of the argument that a higher rate of economic

growth does not necessarily mean more rapid improvements in human development.

Besides, it signifies the lack of adequate economic strength to induce human

development in backward region. In this regard, the poor status of economic

development in the Hyderabad-Kamataka region makes a strong case to sustain the

above argument.

II

Indicators of Social Development: Education

In the economic field, the achievements of the state of Karnataka border on the

national average, while intra-district performance has registered individual

distinctions. Although it is paradoxical but nonetheless true that the state is noticing

widening unevenness in basic indicators of social development. In spite of

considerable progress in the field of information technology and industrial

advancement, which have made an impact on growth rates, the human development

aspects, particularly in backward districts ofNorth Karnataka continue to be the cause

of concern in the state.

Ever since the success of UNDP's effort to shift focus of development on

people as the real wealth of a country, the concept of human development has

assumed importance in the discourse on development. This approach emphasizes on

to take care of specific concerns of human beings. In this regard, the successive

human development reports of UNDP have stressed on various issues that can expand

human capabilities. Similar efforts to study the human development aspects have been

made in Kamataka, which has prepared a detailed document called Human

Development in Karnataka in 1999 based on the UNDP methodology. Interestingly,

the preparation of the report in Karnataka coincided with the growing demand from

the northern regions of the state for larger share in the developmental pie. Such a

study by the state government assumes importance for two reasons. First, an exercise

by the state to prepare a Human Development Index (HOI) for districts is as close an

official recognition as is possible of the human development approach to guide policy

as well as measure outcomes. Second, the estimation for the districts within the state

provides a broader and comprehensive picture than the summary of National Survey

79

Samples (NSS). It is more important, particularly when there are striking regional

variations in almost all measure of socio-economic development. In the context of

these developments in the 1990s, this section attempts to study the prevalence of

human development facilities, particularly provision of education in the post-1956

Kama taka.

Importance of Education

In any study that attempts to measure the level of social development in a

backward region, an honest effort needs to be made to analyse the status of education.

Education has been considered as the primary requirement of and major investment in

social development, which will follow all other benefits.24 It has been the most

valuable, potential and effective tool for overall development. In this regard,

education not only improves the faculties and skills of the people, but it also

dramatically contributes to their physical well being by making them aware of better

health facilities and increase their willingness to seek and utilize medical and other

facilities. Education increases not only equality but also creates opportunities in a

welfare state.25 The Human Development Report, 1992 of UNDP underscores the fact

that the poor countries get much higher rates of return than the rich countries from

investing in education. It also says that for the poorest countries, the highest returns

are from the primary education, thus, places significant importance on primary

education as a driving force of an underdeveloped economy. Hence considerable

emphasis has been placed on the importance of education over the years. Furthermore,

many studies such as HOI by UNDP have found out productive benefits from

education from some cross-country evidence and established direct connection

between education and human development. In this regard, let us know the views of

development experts on the importance of education.

Mahabub-UI-Haq- "Education is the passport to accelerated growth and it is the key to building human capital and human capital is the vital ingredient in building a nation."

24 For a discussion on investment in education as a key element in development process, See George Psacharopoulos and Maureen Woodhall, Education for Development: An Analysis of Investment Choices, Oxford University Press, New York, 1985.

25 M.V. Rama Rao and G. Sudarshanam, "Welfare State and Education in India", Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Vol. V, No.I, January 1991, pp.17-25. This paper is a useful source material that considers education as an important function of state. It also discusses the emergence of welfare state and how the Indian State performs the welfarist functions with specific reference to education.

80

Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze- "The elimination of ignorance, of illiteracy and of needless inequalities of opportunities is objectives that are valued for their own sake. They expand the freedom to lead the lives we have reason to value and those elementary capabilities are of importance on their own."26

Aristotle -"Education is a process to develop man's faculties, especially his mind, so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, beauty and goodness"

Frederick Engels- "Every man has the right to the full development of his abilities and society wrongs individuals twice over when it makes ignorance a necessary consequence of poverty" ·

Alfred Marshaii-"The most valuable of all capital is that investment in human beings"

The above mentioned social scientists and theorists views on education

underscores its importance for the overall development of a region and personality of

a person. It is found out by many studies that meaningful education greatly

contributes to social development and helps people to lead an improved quality of

life. In fact, several international and national conferences in the last decade have

significantly emphasized on the importance of education to achieve the goals of social

development. However, the quality of education often varies with the status and

living conditions of people. In this regard, active interventions by state becomes

crucial so as to ensure that the provision of quality education reaches to all without

any caste, class, sex and regional considerations. It is the most important

responsibility of the state to ensure that the remotest and the most backward regions

and deprived sections of the society receive the benefits of education.27

Development of Education In India

The present system of education in India has been the outcome of colonial

policies on education. The quality and standard of education in the colonial period

was perceived to be very shortsighted and was best suited to the needs of imperialist

26 Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze, Economic Development and Social Opportunity, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1995.

27 See Nitya Rao, "Education: Quality with Quantity" Economic and Political Weekly, November 25, 2000,pp.4181-4185. The article provides details on the meaning of education and responsibilities of the state in provision of educational services.

81

power in India?8 In the 18th century, the East India Company not only launched its

political career but also increasingly took over various functions of governance that

mattered the most for the governed. The Company's education policy contained more

predominantly in the Charter Act of 1813, which contained a clause directing the

company to permit missionaries to go to India. As a result, the colonial school system

sought on the one hand, to promote western style of education in English medium for

the elite sections of the society, on the other hand, to transform the then indigenous

schools into more acceptable western-style schools for the common masses. Thus, a

dual pattern of school education one for the elites and the other for the poorer sections

of the society made a beginning in India for the first time.29

In the early 19th century also the development of education system was

determined by the needs of the British. The end of the 18th century and the beginning

of the 19th century was the period of consolidation of industrial capital in the Europe

and England. Corresponding to this, the then emerging intellectual opinion pressed for

the spread of English education, language and culture in the colonies. Furthermore,

the colonial masters directly or indirectly influenced the framing of educational policy

in order to suit their politico-administrative needs of the time. It is clearly evident

from the Charter act, 1833 that suggested the East India Company to cut down the

expenditure on European employees and pressed for employing Indians at much

lower salary. The shortsighted, ill-designed and self-centered objectives of the British

education system and subsequent rise in demand for English education by the native

elite led to the famous dispatch of Sir Charles Wood in 1854. Popularly known as the

"Wood's Despatch" recommended for establishing universities in Bombay, Madras

and Calcutta in 1857. It is significant to note that the major recommendations of the

Wood's Despatch clearly reflected the needs and aspirations of not only the British

Raj but also the select native elites of the Indian society.

28 M.V.Ramarao and G. Sundarshanam, " Education Policy in India", Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Vol.IV, January 1992, pp.37-50. The authors have found out that the independent India's educational policy is the legacy of colonial India. They also outline the development history of education in amore analytical way covering the pre-British, the British and the post-independence periods. They have found out that education in India, since from the beginning catered to the needs of a few ruling sections of the community. The indigenous people's vernacular language, their needs and aspirations were never considered. It was observed that there were ample attempts to change the education system whenever there was a crisis in the economy. The implications of colonial educational policy in India were such that it created further inequalities in Indian society.

29 B.M.Sankhdher (ed), Education System from 1857 to William Hunter's Commission 1882, Deep and Deep Publications Private Limited, New Delhi, 1999.

82

After the independence, realizing the importance of education in social and

economic development of a traditional society like India and its catalytic role to

national cohesion, scientific temper, independence of mind, a major instrument for the

promotion of cherished morals and social values and development of man power in

various levels of skills and expertise, our Constitution makers and policy makers

made universalisation of elementary education, a national commitment and non­

negotiable object. Besides, they initiated various programmes and schemes to promote

basic education in India.30 The Constitution makers deliberated on the need and type

of education required for the nation and accordingly incorporated relevant

constitutional provisions in our Constitution. Another far-reaching step in the

development of education in India is the 42nd amendment to the Constitution in 1976,

which brought education in the concurrent list of the seventh schedule of the

Constitution. It's implications; substantive, financial and administrative required a

new sharing of responsibilities between the union government and the states in respect

of this vital area ofnationallife.31

Several articles in the Constitution of India outline the general principles to

guide and govern the educational development in the country. Article 45 of the

Constitution after the 86th Constitutional amendment in 2002 makes provision for

early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years. Before the

86th amendment, the article enjoined the state to provide, within a period of 10 years

from the commencement of the Constitution, for free and compulsory education for . all children until they complete the age of 14 years. This Constitutional obligation has

time and again deferred successively to 1970,1980,1990 and then to 2000. It is only in

2002, the education was made as a fundamental right. Accordingly, a fundamental

duty clause was also inserted in the constitution in the form of article 51A(k) which

reads as, "it shall be the duty of every citizen of India who is a parent or guardian to

provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between

the age of six and fourteen years". The tenth five-year plan (2002-07) also set the

target of ensuring all children to complete five years of schooling by the year 2007.

30 To know more on the initial policy framework on education, See Prem Kirpal (ed), Foundation of Education for Free India: Towards a New Quality of Life, Allied Publishers Limited, New Delhi, 1990.

31 See R.C.Mohapatra, "Basic Needs: Universalisation of Elementary Education, A Myth or Reality", Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Vol.4, No.3, July 1.990, pp. 41-48.

83

Similarly, article 46 of the Constitution makes the state to promote with

special care, the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the

people, and in particular, ofthe Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall

protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Besides, the state is

directed under article 29(2) not to make any discrimination based on religion, race,

caste, language or any of them while providing admission to any educational

institutions maintained by the state or receiving aid out of State funds. To provide

adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of

education to children belonging to linguistic minorities, a special article 350A was

inserted in the Constitution of India.

Despite constitutional obligations and policy commitments to ensure equal and

complete literary advancement, the targets kept on revised from time to time. The

very objectives of the National Education Policy I 986, better known as NEP's thrust

on the universal enrolment and universal retention of children upto I 4 years of age

and a substantial improvement in the quality of education and vis-a vis the quality of

life of the people of the country, were not realized in time-bound manner. Realising

the failure in reaching the target of providing a minimum level of education to a vast

majority of its people, the Government of India initiated yet another drive against

poor enrolment and subsequent illiteracy. It also increased the burden of providing

education on the Government of India with rapid growth in population, which also led

to a steady rise in the number of illiterates in the country. In order to tackle this

problem, the Government of India began one of the largest initiatives in I 986 by

incorporating a scheme of Operation Blackboard.32 Operation Blackboard scheme

clearly laid down certain guiding principles that attempted to provide minimum level

of facilities in all primary schools and prescribed the minimum level of funding for all

new primary schools to be opened in the future.

Besides, the Operation Blackboard scheme incorporated three main

components such as (i) to provide at least two reasonably large rooms that are usable

in all weather with a deep verandah along with separate toilet facilities for boys and

girls (ii) to provide essential teaching and learning material including blackboard,

maps, charts, a small library, toys and games and some equipment for work

32 For a discussion on the functioning and problems of the Operation Blackboard Scheme, See Mira Rani Nanda, "Operation Blackboard: Drive Against Illiteracy", Link, May 17, 1992, pp.37-38.

84

experience (iii) to provide for at least two teachers, as for as possible, one of them a

women in every primary school. With these major components, Operation Blackboard

scheme was implemented in 1987. But many studies and evaluation of the scheme

suggested that the scheme failed to reach its targets as the scheme suffered from petty

politicking although that is not only the cause for its tardy implementation. Had this

programme given primacy in its implementation, the status of primary education in

India would have been in a different state today.

Furthermore, as a bridge course, the Central Government initiated many new

programmes to supplement the efforts of state governments by meeting some critical

gaps in public provisioning for literary improvement, particularly in the educationally

backward states. These efforts were broadly in the form of an enabling policy

framework as well as specific programmes including the Total Literary Campaign,

District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Mahila Samakhya or the present

initiative on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) embodying some of the past programmes.

The DPEP Programme launched in 1994-95 aimed at augmenting the state

government's efforts at achieving universal primary education in backward districts

through providing access to all children by formal or non-formal education system. It

also aimed at ensuring universal participation by children in the education system and

improving the quality of teaching-learning transactions at the lower primary stage.

The DPEP's focus was on improving access, participation and achievement by

children from marginalized groups, particularly girls and students from socially

deprived communities such as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, the

success of the previous educational programmes has not been upto the expected

levels. All these programmes suffered from many complex reasons and thus,

produced differential outcomes.33 At present this programme has been merged with

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

The on-going Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme is a time bound programme

of the Central Government, in partnership with the states, the local governments and

33 See Vaidyanatha Ayyar, "What Lessons can DPEP offer?", Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, 19(1), January 2005, pp.49-65. And also See Vimala Ramachandran, "Is Schooling for the Poor on the Government Agenda?", Economic and Political Weekly, July 24, 2004, pp.3349-3350. The author raises a fundamental question on the success of programmes in reaching intended results. It was revealed that despite considerable improvements in primary education, vast sections of the society such as the poor, girls in rural areas, tribals and some among deprived sections remained out of its reach. She also enlists the success and failures of DPEP programme in enhancing access to quality education for deprived sections of the society.

85

the community, to provide elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-

14 years by 2010. It recognizes the importance of community owned system

organized in a mission mode for improving reach and performance of the school

system.34 Besides, the SSA is attempting to bring about convergence of the existing

institutional effort for elementary education at state and district level. The programme

has also functionally decentralized governance aspect right down to the school level

in order to improve community participation. Along with the involvement of

Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRis), the state has been encouraged to strengthened the

accountability in implementation of the programme by involving NGOs, academic

community, social and educational activists and women's organizations. This broad­

based programme has been viewed as the most practical and an improvement over the

earlier programmes on education. It remains to be seen how this programme would

actually bring about improvements in the targeted goals in a context where the

previous programmes have not been successful in reaching targets with marked

regional inequalities in development of education in India?5

Growth of Education in Karnataka

The state government of Karnataka as part of national commitment to improve

elementary education initiated various programmes to provide quality education in the

state. In fact, it started its own programmes other than the centrally sponsored

programmes to attain better literacy for the state. The education secretariat for

primary and secondary education has been in the process of policymaking, planning,

and budgeting and other support services for the education sector. Significantly, the

Government of Karnataka has decentralized the education sector as well and

enormous powers and responsibilities for school education have been vested with

district level local self-government institutions known as Zilla Panchayats (ZPs). A

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the IAS or Super Scale Karnataka Administrative

Service (KAS) cadre officer in all their executive functions assists the ZPs. The

Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) at the district level and Block Education

Officer (BEO) at the block level assist the CEO.

34 National Human D~velopment Report (NHDR), the Planning Commission of India, Government of India, 2001, p.60.

35 See Jandhyala B.G.Tilak, The Economics of Inequality in Education, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1987.

86

Education Policy ofKarnataka

The state government of Karnataka has shown considerable commitment in

ensuring free and compulsory education to all children till the age of fourteen within

the federal framework of the Indian Constitution. In fact, the state government of

Karnataka promulgated a Compulsory Education Act and Karnataka Education Act in

1983, which underscores the Constitutional obligation to provide basic education for

all children of the state. Further it may be noted that the target set by the state

government is three years ahead of the 2010 deadline set at national level by the

government of India under its flagship programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The

main goals and objectives of the government ofKarnataka towards universalisation of

elementary education are; to ensure that all 6-14 year old children are in classes by

2007; to ensure that all required infrastructure and human resources for providing

eight years of free, compulsory, relevant and quality education are in place by 2007;

to ensure that education becomes a means of genuine empowerment of the individual

to achieve his/her full potential by 2007; to ensure that the learning process is made

locally relevant, child-centered, activity-based and joyful by 2007: to ensure that

educational management is decentralised to the community and that the community

takes ownership to ensure children's right to education by 2007.36

Furthermore, as a step forward to correct regional imbalances in development

of primary education in Karnataka, the government ofKarnataka was decentralised its

institutions of governance by creating a separate Directorate of North-Eastern

Karnataka comprising all the five backward districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka

region and Bagalkot and Bijapur districts of the Bombay-Karnataka region. 37 It was

seen as an effort to improve the poor status of primary education in these districts of

North Karnataka. The newly created directorate was inaugurated on July 10, 2001 by

the then Chief Minister Mr. S.M. Krishna in Gulbarga.38

The Government of Karnataka, like other regions of the country, has adopted

the 1 0+2+3 pattern of education. However, the break-up of the first ten years of

schooling is distinctive to the state as it forms the core of elementary education. The

36 See EDUVISION-2002, Shaping Education in Karnataka, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2002, p.ll.

37 For more details on special educational programmes for backward districts in Karnataka, Final Draft of the Action Plans for School Education Programmes in North East Karnataka, Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, November 2002.

38 See Samyukta Karnataka, Dharwad-Hubli, July 9, 2001 and Prajavani, ~angalore, July 5, 2001.

87

first four years of schooling constitute the lower primary level of education and the

next three years constitute higher primary education. This is followed by three years

of secondary education. As of now, there is a district level examination after the end

of 7th class and state level public examination at the termination of the I Oth standard

conducted by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB),

Bangalore.39

As the study has presented in the first section of this chapter, the state of

Karnataka is at a critical juncture in its economic development with marked regional

variations. The state is slightly above the national average in terms of Human

Development Indices. According to the NHDR, 200 I, state of Karnataka occupies the

7th position among the 15 states in the country. Karnataka state, which inherited an

elitist-oriented education system from the colonial past, has made a steady progress in

the last five decades. Besides, it has attempted to rectify the pre- I 956 situation and

moved towards an egalitarian system that attempts to provide equitable educational

opportunities too all sections of the society. Yet certain pockets in the periphery of the

state have remained educationally backward for the last five decades.

Regional Variations in Educational Development in North Karnataka

Educational development in the state has been profoundly influenced by the

legacy of the past, i.e., the pre-1956 status of the constituting units. As we have

discussed in detail the very formation of the state in the previous chapter, the

constituting units of the then Mysore state were at strikingly different levels of

economic, social and educational development in 1956. In I 955-56, the enrolment of

6- I I years children in the princely state of Mysore and the Bombay-Karnataka region

was 75 to 85 per cent respectively compared to only 27 per cent in the Hyderabad­

Karnataka region.40 This rate of disparity continued to affect the education sector in

Karnataka even after five decades of its integration. In this context, the following

section looks at the prevailing regional variations in select indicators of education.

The growth and progress of education in North Karnataka can be assessed in

many ways. The present study has adopted a unique method of measuring status of

education sector across regions within North Karnataka by computing input and

39 Ramesh Kanbargi, Equity in Education in Karnataka, Department of Education, Government of Kamataka, Bangalore, 2002, p.3.

40 EDUVISION, op.cit, no.36, p.6.

88

output indicators. Input indicators are those, which are basically provided by the state

it should be in an egalitarian manner without any bias towards any region. The present

study has selected educational infrastructure such as number of schools both primary

and secondary, adequate number of teachers, teacher-pupil ratio, enrolment rate and

school infrastructure as input indicators. Similarly, literacy rates by region and gender

and school dropouts for the districts of North Karnataka, as output indicators as they

are, among other things, are the result of input indicators provided by the state

government.

Input Indicators of Education in North Karnataka

The following section looks at the status of input indicators of education

across the districts in North Karnataka. We have selected educational infrastructure

such as number of primary and secondary schools, availability of teachers in primary

and secondary schools, teacher-pupil ratio, enrolment rate and school infrastructure as

input indicators for the comparative study of the Bombay-Karnataka and the

Hyderabad-Karnataka region within North Karnataka.

Number of Primary and Secondary Schools by Districts in North Karnataka

Provision of adequate number of schools forms one of the basic input

indicators that measures the commitment of the state government to ensure equity in

development of educational infrastructure. At the time of state formation in 1956, the

number of schools was 22250 and it went on to reach a significant figure of 57905 by

the turn of the century, which showed a compound growth rate of 2 per cent per

annum. In terms of distribution of primary schools by management indicates that the

growth of private managed schools (4.8 per cent) is about four times that for the

government schools (1.4 per cent) during the period from 1990-91 to 2002-03. The

unaided schools grew a compound growth of 7 per cent per annum, as against this; the

private aided schools grew at 2 per cent, which is a cause of concern. The reach of

unaided schools is most often restricted to urban-based upper sections of the society.

Besides, they extract heavy money in the form of capitation fee and donations, which

the poorer section of the society cannot afford to pay.

Significantly, the state government of Karnataka has adopted a policy of

providing a primary school for a population of 200 persons as against the government

of India's established norm of 300 persons in order to expand the network of primary

89

schools. In fact, the government of Karnataka has been able to fulfill this norm, as on

an average there is more than one school for a population of 200 persons in the age

group of 6-14 years children in the year 2002-03. But the most important aspect that

needs to be underscored is the fact that there is a steady increase in the number of

unaided primary schools in the state. The Sixth all India Educational Survey of 1993's

updated figures for Karnataka indicated that 91 per cent of the population within the

state are served by a primary school within the habitation itself while another 5 per

cent had to walk a distance of one kilo meter for a school. Over 60 per cent of the

population is served by a higher primary school within the habitation itself while

another 25 per cent will have to a distance of 3 kilo meters. Government schools

absorbed 90 per cent of the children at the lower primary stage in rural areas while the

private schools attracted 50 per cent children in urban areas. Corresponding figures

for higher primary stage is 90 per cent for government schools and 55 per cent for

private schools. The government runs 8 per cent of the lower primary schools in the

state while the rest are private aided and self-financing schools.

Similarly, the school input infrastructure for secondary school education show

a similar pattern. The secondary schools by management show that the unaided

schools grew at a faster rate than the government schools. During 1990-91, the

number of aided schools was the highest but the trend has got slowly reversed in the

recent past, as there is a shift towards the growth of unaided private schools in the

state during 2002-03. In order to measure regional imbalances in availability of

primary schools in North Karnataka, the present study has adopted a unique method

of calculating number of primary schools for every I 0000 school-going child

population i.e., children between the age group of 6-14 years. The study considers this

measure as more relevant than the standard measure that takes into account the total

population of a region, which includes adults, age-olds, who have nothing to do with

primary schools system apart from ensuring their children to attend school regularly.

The following table 2.2 shows the number of primary schools per I 0000 school-going

child population in North Karnataka.

90

Table 2.2

Number of Primary Schools per 10,000 School-going Populations (6-14 years child population 2002-03)

Region/District 1985-86 1995-96 Number Number of6- Number of ofGovt 14 years child primary schools and Govt- population. per 10,000 aided school-going Schools child population

Belgaum 2316 2802 3117 887547 35 B~japur 2087 2591 1669 342907 49 Bagalkot* ---- ---- 1162 317344 37 Dharwad 2874 2425 622 270612 23 Gadag* ---- ---- 670 168228 40 Haveri* --- ---- 1143 249883 46 Uttara Kannada 1661 1989 2133 209553 102 Bombay Karnataka 8938 9807 10576 2446074 43 Bellary 1312 1520 1686 369173 46 Bidar 896 1266 1152 303358 38 Gulbarga 1881 2125 2358 446618 53 Raichur 1517 1685 1244 310789 40 Koppal* ---- ---- 864 223003 39 Hyderabad Karnataka 5606 6596 7304 1652941 44 North Karnataka 14544 16403 17880 4099015 44 South Kamataka 23232 26641 28018 4923847 57 STATE 37776 43044 45898 9022862 51

Source: Compiled from Educational Statistics At A Glance and other official documents obtained from the office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction (CPI), Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2003, p.7-9.

• Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

It is evident from the above table that the public provisioning of primary

schools in the state has been uneven. The southern region has 57 schools for every

10000 school-going child population which is significantly higher than the state

average of 51. whereas the northern region has only 44 schools. This clearly shows

the prevalence of intra-regional disparities between North Karnataka and South

Karnataka, within North Karnataka, the Bombay-Karnataka region has 43 schools and

Hyderabad-Karnataka has 44 schools. Although, the Hyderabad-Karnataka region has

slightly more number of schools compared to the Bombay-Karnataka, in the year

2002-03 is noticed that it has failed to make significant progress over the decades in

terms of availability of primary schools for its child population within North

Karnataka, the district of Uttara Kannada has the largest figure of 1 02 schools in the

Bombay-Karnataka region whereas the district of Bidar has the lowest figure of just

91

38 schools for every 1 0000-child population. It is also interesting to note that the

most developed districts of Belgaum (35) and Dharwad (23) in the Bombay­

Karnataka region have lower figures than the regions average of 43 for the year 2002-

03. It is mainly because of the fact that there is more number of private schools

managed by well known educational institutions like Basset Mission, KLE Society

K.E. Board's etc., which have not been taken into account of in this study. The low

numbers for these districts doesn't mean that they are educationally backward. In fact,

they are well developed districts. Since the private schools are more popular in those

regions, government has opened less number of schools in these districts.

In terms of rural-urban divide, as explained earlier, larger number of schools

are located in rural areas than urban areas in the state. According to the available data,

there were 16158 and 2794 primary schools in rural and urban North Karnataka

respectively for the year 2002-03.41 Besides, there is no regional pattern in terms of

rural-urban divide in terms of availability of primary schools in North Karnataka. But

it is interesting to note that the most backward regions across the state continues to

suffer from other input indicators of educational development though primary schools

are constructed in rural areas.

Availability of Secondary Schools in North Karnataka

After primary schooling students are eligible to join secondary schools that

provide schooling for further 3 years i.e., VIII, IX and X standard. There is a state

level examination for those who stay in class X. Generally, secondary schools are

fewer than primary schools in number and students will have to find a conveniently

located secondary school for enrolment. It is quite likely that if a secondary school is

not situated nearby it may lead to discontinuation of education of a child particularly

girl child. This is one of the reasons for high dropout rate observed, particularly

among girls' students after primary schooling. It particularly affects the girls students

from rural and backward regions, as they are normally not allowed to either walk a

distance or go to cities for further education. It may be noted that in such situations

the girls students are deprived to complete 10 years of schooling as it is essential to

get any low paid jobs like a clerk or assistant in government offices. Significantly,

pass in X standard is a gate-pass for higher education and used as a basic requirement

41 Educational Statistics At A Glance, Office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2003, p.l 0.

92

for getting jobs. Hence it is important on the part of the state government to provide

adequate number of schools and teachers for secondary education, particularly in rural

and backward regions.

It is significant to note that unlike primary schools, secondary schools are the

monopoly of private managed educational trusts. They are basically located in urban

areas and have their own set of rules and regulations that guide the admission

procedure and fee structure. The management of schools mostly decides them.

According to the available data, there were 3256 privately managed secondary

schools out of the total 8582 secondary schools in the state for the year 2002-03.

Despite the high growth of private secondary schools in the state, the role of state

government in opening secondary schools in backward areas cannot be

underestimated. The following table 2.3 provides district-wise information on number

of secondary schools in North Karnataka.

Table 2.3

Number of Secondary Schools per 10,000 Population

Districts 1985-86 1995-96 2004-05- Number of Sr. Schools per lakh population

Belgaum 217 486 621 15 Bijapur 138 438 304 17 Baga1kot* - - 267 16 Dharwad 261 480 200 12 Gadag* - - 180 18 Haveri* - - 238 17 U.K. 153 194 254 19 Born bay-Karnataka 769 1598 2064 16 Bellary 84 180 270 13 Bidar 79 153 286 19 Gulbarga 125 318 345 II Raichur 87 155 204 12 Koppal* - - 143 12 Hyderabad- 375 806 1248 13 Karnataka North Karnataka 1144 2404 3312 15 South Karnataka 1834 3793 5700 19 STATE 2978 6197 9012 17

Source: Compiled from the documents provided by the office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction (CPI), Government ofKarnataka, Bangalore, 2005.

• Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

93

From the above table it is evident that the public provisioning of secondary

schools in Karnataka is uneven. There are marked imbalances between South

Karnataka and North Karnataka as there are 19 and 15 secondary schools for every

one lakh population respectively. Within North Karnataka, there are serious regional

imbalances between the Bombay-Karnataka and the Hyderabad-Karnataka region.

There are only 13 secondary schools per lakh population in the Hyderabad-Karnataka

region while the Bombay-Karnataka region has 16 secondary schools per lakh

population. The districts of Gulbarga, Raichur and Koppal in the Hyderabad­

Karnataka region have less number of secondary schools compared to districts of the

Bombay-Karnataka region. It is significant to observe that the entire North Karnataka

region is lagging behind in terms of secondary schools compared to South Karnataka,

which has a figure of 19. schools. The most number of educationally backward

districts are concentrated in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, despite many efforts of

state government to improve educational infrastructure in the region. The low figures

for these districts in the year 1985-86 and 1995-96 suggests the fact that how these

districts have remained poor in terms of educational infrastructure over the decades.

Availability of Teachers in Primary Schools in North Karnataka

In the education sector number of teachers appointed to impart basic education

to tender age children appears to be the most important indicator of social

development. More often, the primary schools in rural areas suffer from adequate

number of teachers. The problem often gets compounded when teachers are given

additional responsibilities from time to time, which are in no way related to imparting

education, such as census operations, helping in elections etc. It seriously affects the

quality of services, particularly in single-teacher schools. There are 6074 single­

teacher schools in the state. The number of working days spent in non-teaching

activities affects the delivery and quality of education in these schools. Hence, it is

important to see that adequate number of teachers is posted in primary schools to help

themselves manage the additional responsibilities and provide quality education to

children. However, it is important to note that the state government of Karnataka

seems to have not evolved any policy framework to address these problems. It is also

significant to train teachers from time to time to update their knowledge and teaching

skills. The education policy of the state has no details on this issue. However, the

following table 2.4 provides information on sanctioned teacher posts, working and

94

vacant positions in government primary schools for the year 2001-02. It also explains

the percentage of female teachers to total working teachers in North Karnataka.

Table 2.4

District-wise Details of Sanctioned posts, Working and Vacant Position in Government Primary Schools for the Year 1985-86, 1995-96 & 2001-02

Districts 1985-86 1995-96 Sanctioned Working Vacan- %age of posts Male Female Total cies Female

Teachers working

Belgaum 11168 12145 15808 8514 6030 14544 1264 Bijapur 8586 10366 8188 4933 3195 8128 60 Bagalkot* - - 6167 3411 2094 5505 662 Dharwad 6835 11127 4611 1760 2509 4269 342 Gadag"' - - 3669 2099 1359 3458 211 Haveri• - - 5983 2856 2246 5102 881 U.K. 5206 7538 7379 2334 4483 6817 562 Bombay- 31795 41176 51805 25907 21916 47823 3982 Karnataka Bellary 4663 6197 6887 3653 2157 5810 1077 Bidar 3790 4708 5796 3094 2377 5471 325 Gulbarga 5581 7328 12286 6507 5067 11574 712 Raichur 4298 5598 5278 3213 1848 5061 217 Koppai• - - 4360 1500 1859 3359 1001 Hyderabad- 18332 23831 34607 17967 13308 31275 3332 Karnataka North 50127 65007 86412 43874 3524 79098 7314 Karnataka South 78872 100403 99479 45229 46954 92183 7296 Karnataka STATE 128999 165410 185891 89103 82178 171281 14610 Source: EMIS m DPEP d1stncts and hab1tat10n plans m Non-DPEP d1stncts pubhshed m Perspective

Plan for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) 2001-02 to 2009-10, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2004 and documents provided by the office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction (CPI), Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005. • Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

According to the above table there were 185 891 sanctioned posts in the state

with regional allocation of 86412 and 99479 posts for North Karnataka and South

Karnataka respectively. Within the northern region of the state the number of posts

sanctioned for Hyderabad-Karnataka is far less than the Bombay-Karnataka region.

There is a gap of 17198 teachers between the two regions. The district of Belgaum has

the maximum number of teachers working (14544) and the lowest being reported in

Koppal district (3359). Besides, there are over seven thousand vacant posts in

northern region of the state, which is the great cause of concern if one looks at this

situation from the point of view of the critical role of teachers in universalisation of

elementary education. Another striking feature that one can observe in the Hyderabad-

95

41 39 38 59 39 44 66 46

37 43 44 37 55 43

45

51

48

Karnataka region is the fact that the region has very low percentage of female teachers

in primary schools. The percentage of female teachers to the total-working teachers in

Karnataka is around 48. But the figures for the Hyderabad-Karnataka and the

Bombay-Karnataka region are 42 and 46 respectively. This aspect needs to be given

utmost priority while framing policy to improve educational status in backward

northern regions of the state. In this regard, the Hyderabad-Karnataka region stands

out to be the most backward region in the state and needs special attention.

Availability of Teachers in Secondary Schools in North Karnataka

The secondary schooling is the second most important stage of education

where students are taught to identify their skills and prepare themselves for the next

important stage of education. Here the role of teachers, who are specialized in

different subjects, are recruited to important education. Students' faculties are

exploited to the optimum level so as to enable them to decide their future direction of

education. In the secondary stage, along with traditional subjects, art, music,

literature, etc, are trained. To derive the best within students, availability of qualified,

better trained teachers are the most important requirement. According to the available

data there were 77092 teachers in the state for the year 2004-05. The following table

2.5 provides information on district-wise number ofteachers in northern region of the

state.

96

Table 2.5

Number of Teachers in Secondary Schools for the year 1985-86, 1995-96 & 2004-05

Districts 1985-86 1995-96 2004-05 Percentage of Sr. School Teachers to the State Total

Belgaum 2777 4039 5181 6.72 Bijapur 2808 2773 2481 3.21 Bagalkot* - - 2322 3.01 Dharwad 4098 4289 2052 2.66 Gadag* - - 1544 2.00 Haveri* - - 1891 2.45 U.K. 1724 1765 1992 2.58 Bombay-Karnataka 11407 12866 17463 22.63 Bellary 1320 1414 2155 2.79 Bidar 1013 1539 1928 2.50 Gulbarga 2072 2069 3253 4.21 Raichur 1387 871 1443 1.87 Koppal* - - 1145 1.48 Hyderabad- 5792 5893 9924 12.87 Karnataka North Karnataka 17199 18759 27387 35.52 South Kamataka 25856 32466 499705 64.48 STATE 43055 51225 77092 100

Source: Compiled from documents provided by the oftice for the Commissioner of Public Instruction (CPI), Government ofKarnataka, Bangalore, 2005.

* Figures are not available for newly created districts in 1997.

It is evident from the above table that there was a 9.78 per cent gap in number

of teachers between the Hyderabad-Karnataka region (12.87 per cent) and the

Bombay-Karnataka region (22.65) in 2004-05. However, the gap between the regions

has widened since 1985-86. It went up to 5615 in 1985-86 to 7539 in 2004-05.

However, the same is not the case for southern region of the state. The districts of

Raichur (1.87) and Koppal (1.48) are the most affected districts in terms of

availability of teachers in secondary schools. In this regard, the whole region ofNorth

Karnataka is affected, as there are only 36 percent of the secondary schools teachers

working in region that has 42.71 per cent of the total population with 51.44 per cent of

geographical area in the state. Thus, it is very clear that the northern region

particularly, the Hyderabad-Karnataka region of the state continue to remain

backward in terms of educational infrastructure.

Teacher Student Ratio

Teacher student ratio is an important indicator to measure the status of primary

and secondary education. At all India level, the major criticism level against primary

97

education is the unfavourable teacher student ratio. The Kothari Commission Report

(1966) recommended that there must be a teacher-student ratio of 1 :40. Even the

National Policy on Education has recommended at least one teacher per class at

primary level to improve the quality of education. In fact, favourable teacher-student

ratio enhances the efficiency of teachers and effectiveness of their teaching at the

school level. Teachers can impart quality education only if interaction with students is

effective. In this regard, as viewed by educationists' higher teacher student ratio is

often a feature of educational backwardness, particularly at primary and secondary

education levels. In Kamataka, the teacher student ratio was about 34 in 1999, which

constituted a great improvement over the situation a few years back. However, there

are greater regional imbalances in teacher student ratios across districts and among

regions. Hence, the study attempts to provide district wise information of .teacher

student ratio for North Kamataka region for three different period of time.42 The

following table 2.6 provides the district wise teacher student ratio for North

Kama taka.

Table 2.6

Teacher-Student Ratio in Primary & Secondary Schools for the year 1985-86, 1995-96 & 2004-05

Districts 1985-86 1995-96 2004-05 Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary

Belgaum 39.31 21.17 48.57 31.79 37.06 39.13 Bijapur 43.55 11.22 51.08 34.72 39.16 35.40 Bagalkot* - - - - 41.70 26.71 Dharwad 67.98 15.26 56.88 26.72 41.20 33.14 Gadag* - - - - 36.32 26.83 Haveri* - - - - 36.37 29.63 U.Kannada 33.23 16.40 27.41 20.88 24.02 28.86

Bellary 42.21 18.81 57.28 38.13 42.99 30.28 Bidar 38.78 15.17 60.13 26.83 35.43 28.35 Gulbarga 48.60 11.51 65.81 31.74 44.08 18.50 Raichur 44.34 11.57 62.65 48.59 49.95 32.49 Koppal* - - - - 43.57 32.36 STATE 43.85 18.41 47.97 30.89 32.90 27.59

Source: Compiled from documents provided by the office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction (CPI), Government ofKarnataka, Bangalore, 2005.

"' Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

42 See D.M. Nanjundappa Committee Report for taluk wise data on teacher-student ratio. According to the report there are 19 backward taluks in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region which accounts for 70.37 percentage share of the most backward taluks in the state.

98

The above table shows that on an average teacher-students ratio for the whole

state turns out to be 33 for primary schools and 28 for secondary schools, which is

good enough compared to Kothari Commission's norm of 40 students for each

teacher. But there exist inter-district variations with respect to teacher-student ratio.

As evident from the above table, the districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region (42)

have higher ratio over the years. There are almost 50 students per teacher in Raichur

district whereas there are only 24 students per teacher in Uttara Kannada district,

which is the most developed district of the Bombay-Karnataka region. The situation

seems to be encouraging in case of secondary schools for the districts of the

Hyderabad-Kamataka region, though they are slightly on the higher side compared to

the state average. It is observed that the Hyderabad-Karnataka region comprising the

districts of Bidar, Bellary, Gulbarga, Raichur and Koppal that are characterized by

low enrolment and high dropout rates have relatively low teacher-student ratios. Even

the Task Force on Education headed by the late Raja Rammanna, constituted by the

Government of Kamataka has come out with the same finding. The report says,

"Great disproportions exist in teacher-student ratios across districts in Karnataka.

There is an urgent need for rational deployment of teachers within and across districts

and additional posts to be sanctioned in needy districts. Districts in the Hyderabad­

Kamataka region and the Bombay-Karnataka region needs to be sanctioned additional

posts of teachers urgently to move towards the teacher requirement norms specified"43

Enrolment Rate

Enrolment. of students in primary and secondary schools is the beginning of

capability building process in which children's inner strengths are not only exposed to

the external environment but also strengthened through sufficient training and

practice. If these children grow up and turn out to be more productive adults, that

would finally influence the development potential of a region as far as skillful human

resources are concerned. Many state governments have realised the need to enumerate

the school-going child population in each households, and have been making concrete

efforts to enroll all children in the 6-14 age group. In fact, the enrolment of children in

schools depicts the current flow or the spread of education. The most striking feature

in the Indian education system is that of wide variations in enrolment across districts

43 Interim Report of Task Force on Education, Government of Karnataka, ~an galore, 2000, pp.2-17.

99

and by gender.44 The rate of enrolment and is always higher among boys than among

girls. In Karnataka, the rate of enrolment of boys and girls was 95 and 82 per cent

respectively in 1991-92.45 The highest enrolment rates 143 per cent for boys and 130

per cent for girls were observed in Chikmagalur and the lowest rates 70 per cent for

boys and 42 per cent for girls in Raichur district. Enrolment rates during the same

period were much lower than the state average in the northeastern districts of the

state, viz., Bijapur (81 per cent), Bellary (73 per cent), Gulbarga (62 per cent) and

Raichur (56 per cent). It was also observed that in these districts the difference

between the enrolment among boys and girls is much wider than the state average of

13 per cent.46 The following table 2.7 provides district wise enrolment rate in primary

schools for North Karnataka.

Table 2.7

Enrolment Rate in Primary Schools for the year 1993-94, 1997-98 & 2002-03

Districts 1993-94 1997-98 2002-03 Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

Belgaum 53.10 46.90 52.28 47.72 53.62 46.38 Bijapur 56.07 43.93 57.78 42.22 46.88 53.12 Baga1kot* - - - - 52.87 47.13 Dharwad 53.78 46.22 51.59 48.41 53.26 46.74 Gadag* - - - - 51.96 48.04 Haveri* - - - - 50.88 49.12 U.K. 52.61 47.39 52.14 47.86 49.05 50.95 Bellary 57.09 42.91 53.66 46.34 53.37 46.63 Bidar 55.05 44.95 51.39 48.61 51.06 48.94 Gu1barga 59.34 40.66 55.24 44.76 51.87 48.13 Raichur 59.58 40.42 56.45 43.55 55.13 44.87 Koppal* - - - - 52.44 47.56 STATE 53.97 46.03 52.55 47.45 51.72 48.28

Source: Human Development in Karnataka 1999. A report prepared by the Department of Planning, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 1999, p.274.

* Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

From the above table it is evident that there existed difference between the

enrolment rate for boys and girls in the districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region in

44 To know more on the socio-economic factors affecting the enrolment pattern of school children, See Kumar Rana et al, "Public-Private Interface in Primary Education: A Case Study of West Bengal, Economic and Political Weekly, April 9, 2005, pp. I 550-1555.

45 NHDR, op.cit., no.34, p.54. The report gives complete details on gross enrolment rate, Age specific enrolment ratio, net enrolment ratio for the states in India. Significantly the report highlights on gender gap and rural-urban gap in enrolment rate across states in India.

46 South India: Human Development Report prepared by National Council of Applied Economic Research, Published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p.93.

100

the past one decade. It is significant to note that all the districts of the Hyderabad­

Karnataka have lower enrolment rate compared to the state average for the years

mentioned. However, the situation has considerably improved by 2002-03 where the

gap has reduced. It is mainly because of timely intervention of the government of

Karnataka, which went for extensive special enrolment drive to admit students into

the schools in the most backward regions of the state in the year 2002. The poor

enrolment rate of children in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region before 2002, itself

speaks for its educational backwardness. Use of child as labour in traditionally

agricultural society, low status of women, lack of infrastructural facilities such as

teachers and school buildings, inadequate plan outlays and above all, lack of political

will to implement a compulsory primary education etc. are the main factors

responsible for poor enrolment. The following table 2.8 provides district-wise

information in secondary schools of North Karnataka for three different period of

time.

Table 2.8

District wise Enrolment Rate in Secondary Schools for the year 1993-94, 1997-98 & 2002-03 in North Karnataka

Districts 1990-91 1997-98 2002-03 Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

Belgaum 65.90 34.10 54.31 45.69 58.24 41.76 Bijapur 66.84 33.16 63.91 36.00 55.17 44.83 Bagalkot* - - - - 61.26 40.14 Dharwad 71.37 28.63 6091 39.09 53.64 45.26 Gadag* - - - - 57.06 45.36 Haveri* - - - - 55.08 44.92 U.K. 55.72 44.28 52.67 47.33 51.16 48.84 Bellary 72.88 27.12 62.06 37.94 61.02 39.98 Bidar 69.67 30.33 57.20 42.80 54.17 45.83 Gulbarga 70.97 29.03 67.80 32.20 56.17 43.83 Raichur 70.35 29.65 67.80 32.20 55.40 44.60 Koppal* - - - - 58.64 41.36 STATE 61.60 38.40 56.90 43.10 53.92 46.08

Source: Human Development in Karnataka- 1999. A report prepared by the Department of Planning, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 1999, p.277 and also from the documents obtained from the office of Commissioner for Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005.

"' Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

From the above table it is very clear that there is a regional pattern in

enrolment rates for boys and girls in the secondary schooling also in North Karnataka.

The enrolment rate for girl students continue to remain poor. compared to boys in

101

North Karnataka. All the districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region have enrolment

rate for girls far below the state average in all the three periods of time. The district of

Bellary has the lowest enrolment rate of 39.98 percent while the district of Uttara

Kannada (48.84) has the maximum enrolment rate in North Karnataka. In terms of

enrolment rate for boys, the performance of all the districts in North Karnataka is

above the state average. This suggests the discriminatory attitude against the girls'

students in the region. Thus, a large proportion of girls' students in North Karnataka,

particularly the Hyderabad Karnataka are deprived of elementary education. This poor

rate of enrolment of girls' students coupled by the high rate of drop out rates for them

has resulted in poor rate of female literacy for the region.

Availability of Basic Facilities in Primary and Secondary Schools in North Karnataka

Availability of basic facilities in schools is an important indicator showing the

type of healthy and favourable environment in which education is being imparted.

The government of Karnataka has not been able to provide adequate basic facilities in

all schools in northern districts of the state. The provision of basic facilities in both

primary and secondary schools in significant in not only improving the quality of

education but also improve the retention rate of students, particularly girls students. In

general, the provision of basic facilities in schools is always in favour of urban

schools. In this regard, the schools in rural areas suffer from basic facilities.

Laboratories sports equipments and libraries are hardly seen in rural schools. They

even suffer from a basic facility of school buildings and seating arrangements.

Moreover, as in the case of other input indicators, there are intra-regional disparities

in this aspect as well. The present study has selected school building; electricity,

drinking water facility, toilet facility and more importantly separate toilets for girls'

students as the main components of basic facilities. The following table 2.9 gives

information on the availability of basic facilities in both primary and secondary

schools in North Karnataka.

102

Table2.9

Number of Schools having Basic Facilities in Primary & Secondary Schools in North Karnataka for the year 2002-03

Districts Building Electricity Drinking Water Toilet facility Separate toilet facilit) for girls

Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Belgaum 2619 82 735 45 2030 132 540 48 252 37 Bijapur 1309 35 288 21 986 65 163 23 136 20 Baga1kot 954 34 358 30 783 66 136 27 100 20 Dharwad 562 29 357 29 361 22 188 18 97 14 Gadag 550 38 341 26 436 25 184 25 111 34 Haveri 1046 32 457 26 570 52 267 20 162 18 UK 2007 17 774 29 1275 41 432 20 263 15 Bombay- 9047 267 3310 206 6441 403 1910 181 1121 158 Karnataka Bellary 1378 54 405 57 1128 75 314 42 193 25 Bidar 889 21 212 57 459 66 108 34 78 24 Gulbarga 1995 8 304 96 1223 114 222 64 149 44 Raichur ll22 47 285 54 738 85 210 44 169 31 Koppal 802 75 258 50 700 63 117 48 67 33 Hyderabad- 6186 205 1464 314 4248 403 971 232 656 157 Karnataka North 15233 472 4774 520 10689 806 2881 413 1777 315 Karnataka South 24366 1091 8618 981 16183 1322 7681 850 4494 559 Kama taka STATE 39599 1563 13392 1501 26872 2128 10562 1263 6271 874

Source: Compiled from Educational Statistics At A Glance, Commissioner for Public Instruction, Government of Kamataka, Bangalore, 2003, p.l3 and 32.

103

The above table shows the prevalence of regional imbalances in terms of

availability of basic facilities in schools within North Karnataka. The Hyderabad­

Karnataka region has poor availability of basic facilities except electricity and toilet

facility in comparison with the Bombay-Karnataka region. Significantly, the separate

toilet facility for girls' student has been poor in all the primary schools within North

Karnataka. On an average, only 35 per cent of the schools in North Karnataka have all

the basic facilities, which are too less compared to the southern region of the state.

Within North Karnataka, though the Bombay-Karnataka region in comparison with

the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, is in a relatively better position still it is a matter of

concern that in few districts of the Bombay-Karnataka such as Gadag and Haveri,

basic facilities are grossly inadequate. The Hyderabad-Karnataka region occupies the

third and last place in terms of availability of basic facilities in primary and secondary

schools. In general, many of the schools in rural localities of the Hyderabad­

Karnataka region lack the basic and physical facilities such as dilapidated school

buildings, often consisting of a single room with bare floor, with no seating facilities,

no storage facilities to maintain teaching aids and equipments, if any, no playground,

toilets etc.47 The situation dramatically changes as one moves to developed localities

in southern and few ofthe Bombay-Karnataka region of the state.

Output Indicators of Education in North Karnataka

Literacy

Literacy is the most important indicator in education sector of social

development and fairly a reliable indicator of educational attainment of a society.

Educational attainments are the outcome of the input indicators of education as

discussed in the previous section of this chapter. The present study by analysing

literacy rates for districts and between regions, and between men and women assesses

the level of educational attainment in northern region of the state.

Literacy attainments for Karnataka as a whole at present are just above the

national average. According to 2001 Census, Karnataka's overall literacy rate is 67.04

per cent. The male-female differential is still high, with 76 per cent male literacy and

47 For more details on this issue See Accompaniment-! on Functionality of Infrastructure Facilities in Important Selected Sectors i.n Kamataka of the High Power Committee on Redressal of Regional Imbalances in Kamataka, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2002, pp. 77-88.

104

57 per cent female literacy. Female literacy is highest in Dakshina Kannada (77.39

per cent) and Bangalore Urban (78.98 per cent), which is far lower than the highest in

the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The disparity between male and

female literacy rates is also highest in rural areas. Rural female literacy in the state is

low, with some districts such as Gulbarga and Raichur of the Hyderabad-Karnataka

region having a female literacy rate of 38.40 per cent and 36.84 per cent respectively,

which are far below the national average of 54.16 per cent. Totally 12 districts in the

state have female literacy below the national average.

In terms of the level of literacy achieved over the decades, the performance of

the state has been satisfactory. The rate of literacy moved up from 29.8 per cent in

1961 to 67.04 percent by 2001. Male-Female and urban-rural differentials have been

narrowing over the years. The following table 2.10 shows the growth of literacy in

Karnataka for the period from 1961 to 200 1.

Table 2.10

Growth of Literacy in Karnataka (1961-2001)

Year/ Sex 1961 1971 1981 1991 1996 2001 Male 42.29 48.1 58.73 67.26 73.75 76.29 Female 16.70 24.56 33.17 44.34 52.65 57.45 Total 29.80 36.83 46.21 56.04 63.42 67.04

Source: Compiled from the Census Reports for the years.

Intra-Regional Disparities in output Indicators of Education

Though Karnataka has been a pioneering state in the development of

education at all levels, its strides in education have not been even across regions and

among gender. In the recent past, gender, education and development have become

integral part of the development discourse. There exist significant regional disparities

in rate of literacy at all levels. The study has attempted to measure the persisting

regional imbalances in literacy by analysing figures for districts by gender and region.

Educational attainments are uneven and disparities and discrimination against

women's education is a universal phenomenon. But in Karnataka, it appears to be

more pronounced in the districts ofNorth Karnataka. The following table 2.11 shows

the intra-regional disparities in education by gender in North Karnataka.

105

Table 2.11

District-wise Literacy Rate by Gender in North Karnataka

Districts 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male

Belgaum 37.90 13.55 42.50 18.29 48.65 24.08 66.65 38.69 75.89 Bijapur 38.04 10.52 40.33 14.30 45.22 18.46 70.18 41.57 68.10 Baga1kot* - - - - - - 67.09 37.13 71.31 Dharwad 47.43 18.55 51.28 25.03 54.24 29.83 74.22 50.41 81.04 Gadag* - - - - - - 71.63 39.68 79.55 Haveri* - - - - - - 68.05 43.28 77.94 UK 43.39 22.92 49.59 31.30 57.36 38.95 76.39 56.77 84.48 Bellary 32.16 9.19 35.31 14.58 41.65 19.32 59.11 32.24 69.59 Bidar 24.02 4.67 30.93 8.69 38.20 14.28 58.97 30.53 73.29 GulbargJt 24.15 5.20 28.72 8.57 36.37 13.30 52.08 24.49 62.52 Raichur 25.96 5.21 30.88 9.32 35.91 13.40 46.75 21.70 62.02 Koppal* - - - - - - 53.47 22.78 69.15 STATE 36.15 14.19 41.62 20.97 48.81 27.71 67.26 44.34 76.29

Source: Compiled from District Socio-Economic Indicators, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Kamataka, Bangalore, 1994, pp. 15-23 and Census of Jndia-2001, Provisional Population Totals, Director of Census Operations, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2002, p.48.

* Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

It is clear from the above table that there are large inter-district variations in

the rate of literacy by gender in North Karnataka. Literacy among males is higher than

that of among females in all the districts of North Karnataka. In all the five periods

(1961-2001), the female literacy rate has been poor in the Hyderabad-Karnataka

region; the district of Raichur has not been able to improve female literacy over the

decades. It was 5.21 percent in 1961 and rose up to just 36.84 per cent, with a

quantum increase of 31.63 per cent in the last five decades. But it is important to

observe that the aggregate increase in female literacy in the districts of the Bombay­

Karnataka has been impressive. It was 45.56 and 43.65 per cent for the year in Uttara

Kannada and Dharwad district. This poor rate of female literacy has unfavourable

implications for the overall development of a society. It is important to recall what

Jawaharlal Nehru had said about the need for female education. He said "If our nation

is to rise, how can it do so if the half of the nation, of our women kind Jag behind and

remain ignorant and uneducated?"48 His concern exactly applies to what is been

happening in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. In the Hyderabad-Karnataka region,

the development and growth of female literacy is far from satisfactory. In fact all the

48 Shaukath Azim, "Literacy Growth Disparities in Karnataka", Economic and Political Weekly, Apri116, 2005, pp. 1647-1649.

106

Female 52.53 46.19 44.10 62.20 52.58 57.60 68.48 46.16 50.01 38.40 36.84 40.76 57.45

five districts of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region have poor literacy figures in

comparison to the state average. According to the 2001 census, the female literacy

rate in Karnataka is 57.45 per cent. Except Bidar district, all the other four districts in

the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, Bellary ( 46.16. per cent), Gulbarga (3 8.40 per cent),

Raichur (36.84 per cent) and Koppal (40.76 per cent) have female literacy rate far

lower than the state average of 57.45 per cent. But the figures for the Bombay­

Karnataka region are satisfactory as the gap in literacy rate is considerably narrow.

The prevailing gender gap in literacy among the districts of North Karnataka

indicates the status accorded to women in a society. It is often concluded that if there

is higher rate of disparity between men and women in literacy that is an indication

that women in that region are grossly neglected. Besides, the growing gap between

men and women in the North Karnataka region over the decades also suggests that not

enough efforts have been made to improve literacy among women. In this regard, the

Hyderabad-Karnataka region, instead of improving, has lagged behind considerably.

It also suggests that a comprehensive programme is required to improve the poor level

of literacy among the women of North Karnataka in general and women of the

Hyderabad-Karnataka region in particular.

Rural Literacy in North Karnataka

As level of literacy is a fairly reliable indicator of educational attainment of a

region, its uneven growth and development across regions and gender also indicates

state government's failure to ensure equity in educational provisioning. In this regard,

regional disparities are more pronounced if one takes into account the prevailing

rural-urban difference in a region. The present study has gone a step forward to

compare the literacy level among men and women in rural Karnataka.

In rural areas, the literacy rate for the state as a whole is 59.68 per cent with

huge variations by gender. It ranged from 70.63 per cent among males and 48.05

among females. Sharp variations are also observed between the Hyderabad-Karnataka

and the Bombay-Karnataka regions within North Karnataka over the decades. The

following table 2.12 shows district wise rural literacy rate in North Karnataka.

107

Table 2.12

Literacy Rate in Rural Areas in North Karnataka

Districts 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male

Belgaum 33.17 9.34 37.33 12.92 43.29 17.98 61.23 31.07 71.71 Bijapur 33.98 7.98 35.55 10.18 40.31 13.61 66.09 35.29 63.53 Baga1kot* - - - - - - - - 66.71 Dharwad 43.72 14.11 46.77 19.22 49.56 23.12 66.70 37.13 73.28 Gadag* - - - - - - - - 76.64 Haveri* - - - - - - - - 76.93 UK 40.07 19.39 46.36 27.63 53.10 33.76 72.58 51.31 81.56 Bellary 28.09 5.56 29.67 9.61 35.32 12.61 52.73 24.34 64.04 Bidar 20.83 2.76 27.35 5.76 33.52 9.80 53.85 24.51 69.95 Gulbarga 19.63 2.93 23.44 4.75 29.96 7.80 44.32 16.06 55.55 Raichur 23.06 3.30 28.06 6.93 32.09 9.82 44.26 16.48 56.87 Koppal* - - - - - - - - 66.88 STATE 30.49 9.19 35.40 14.54 42.06 19.77 60.36 34.76 70.63

Source: Compiled from District Socio-Economic Indicators, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 1994, pp. 15-23 and Census of lndia-2001, Provisional Population Totals, Director of Census Operations, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2002, p.48.

* Figures are not available for the newly created districts in 1997.

It is evident from the above table that significant regional variations exist in terms of

rural literacy in North Kamataka over the last five decades. The difference between

rural male and female is over 25 per cent in all the districts of North Kamataka. The

Gadag district tops the list with a huge gap of 30.28 per cent while Uttara Kannada

district is at the bottom with 17.99 per cent gap. It is significant to observe that all the

five districts of the Hyderabad-Kamataka have highest rural male-female gap in

literacy, which is also above the state average of22.13 per cent. This suggests that the

Hyderabad-Kamataka region needs a special attention in order to educationally

empower the rural women.

School Drop Out Children in North Karnataka

The major challenge that all developing countries facing in the process of

universalisation of primary education is the problem of school dropouts. In fact, the

1998 edition of the Human Development Report in South Asia, in its fifth chapter

underscores the problem of the growing number of children out of school.49 The

49 Out of school children includes child laborers, children who are disabled (cognitive or orthopedic) or unhealthy children. For more details on theoretical and conceptual clarity on the issue of out of school children, refer, M. Venkatanarayana, "Out-of-School Children: Child Labourers or Educationally Deprived?" Economic and Political Weekly, September I 8-, 2004, pp.4219-4221.

108

Female 45.99 40.54 37.11 47.91 46.36 54.74 63.57 37.45 44.88 29.67 29.38 37.02 48.50

report says, "Enabling all children to obtain a complete primary education of high

quality is the key challenge faced by governments in South Asia". Despite sincere

efforts by governments to achieve universalisation of primary education, large

number of primary school-going age children continues to remain outside schools for

various complex socio-economic reasons. The educationists more often view children

out of school including out of school as a capability-deprivation with reference to

education. Furthermore; the extent of deprivation and its implications are not only

goes beyond such individuals but also affect adversely the aggregate capability of the

society of which they are an integral part. More often, the children who are exposed to

such capability-deprivation syndrome grow up into adults with choice-less or a least

choice life opportunities.5° Children out of school and school dropouts have posed a

greater challenge to Karnataka government also in its effort to universalize primary

education.

Dropout rate is the percentage of students dropping out of a class/classes in a

given year. Dropout of students from the schooling is often the manifestation of the

prevailing socio-economic status of a region. Hence it increases cumulatively with

level of education. This implies that children from poorer sections of the society

dropout when they start moving to the higher stage of education. In contrast, students

from the better off sections continue to study later stages of education. Generally, the

dropout rates of students attending school are comparatively more in rural areas than

in urban areas due to various reasons. Besides, the largest share of drop outs constitute

the students coming from socio-economically backward areas and from poor

families. 51 In this regard, it is important for the state to identify the factors that are

responsible for school dropouts and do the much needed to bring back the dropouts

into formal schooling.52 The following table 2.13 provides information on school

dropouts in types of primary schools in Karnataka.

50 See Dr. D.M. Nanjudappa Committee Report, 2002, p.l30 51 Vimala Ramachandran, "Children, Work and Education", Seminar 497, January 2001, pp.86-89. 52 For a discussion on reasons for school dropouts in Karnataka, See Rekha Kaul, "Accessing

Primary Education: Going Beyond the Classroom", Economic and Political Weekly, January 13, 200l,p.157.

109

Table 2.13

School Dropout Rate in Type of Primary Schools in Karnataka

Year Drop-out rate in Lower Drop-out rate in Higher Primary School Primary School

1985-86 41.68 65.41 1995-96 21.82 51.39 2004-05 9.93 16.64

Source: Compiled from documents obtained from the office of Commissioner for Public Instruction, Government ofKarnataka, Bangalore, 2005.

In Karnataka, though the dropout rate at the state level has been declining,

there is considerable regional disparity in magnitude. For the state of Karnataka, the

drop out rate in lower primary school has declined significantly from 41.68 percent in

1985-86 to just 9.93 per cent in 2004-05, while in higher primary school it is 16.64

per cent. The considerable decline in lower primary state is mainly because of

Karnataka government's policy of "No detention till class V". It implies, all those

children who attend school for a minimum number of days are promoted to higher

class irrespective of their learning achievements.53 Furthermore, the state

government's special enrolment drive and introduction of mid-day meal programme

with an objective of reducing the dropout rate and enhancing nutritional level of

children.54

Although the state government of Karnataka's efforts to enroll the drop out

school-going children into the formal schooling, yielding good results, the overall

decline in drop out rate has not been the same if we study the figures based on gender.

In this regard, it is important to know the availability of schools in the nearly locality,

basic facilities at school and number of female teachers, families socio-economic

status and societal attitude towards girls education etc. influence the rate of drop out

for girls. The · following table 2.14 shows dropout rates in primary schools in

Karnataka for the three different period of time.

53 Ramesh Kanbargi, Equity in Education in Karnataka, Department of Education, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2002, p.21.

54 The state government of Karnataka has launched special enrolment drive under the programmes "Chinnara Angala", "Coolininda Shalege (from labour to school), "Beediyinda Shalege" (from street to school), "Baa Marali Shalege" (come back to school) etc. For further information refer Economic Survey 2004-05, Department of Planning and Statistics, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, March 2005, p.308.

110

Table 2.14

School Dropout Rate by Gender in Karnataka

Gender 1992-93 1997-98 2000-01 Boys 43.8 41.3 35.0 Girls 54.2 46.3 41.0 Total 48.7 43.7 38.0

Source: Compiled from documents obtained from the office of Commissioner for Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005.

From the above table it is evident that there exist gender-based disparities in

school dropouts. The dropout rates during the decade for boys have declined from

43.8 per cent to 35 per cent while that of girls from 54.2 per cent to 41 per cent. There

is a gap of 13.2 per cent over the period. The high dropout rates for girls is the

outcome of various factors such as lack of availability of schools within their locality,

economic and cultural factors and more importantly social discrimination against girl

children in traditional societies.55

The overall finding that emerges from the above explanation is that the

number of dropouts is more among girls at higher educational levels in the state.

Besides, there arc regional variations in the number of school dropouts. The following

table 2.15 provides district wise dropout rates in North Karnataka.

55 For further details on gender divide in terms of educational attainments such as literacy, school dropout, enrolment etc, See Surendranath Bandopadhyay, "Gender Disparities in the Educational System in India" in Biswanath Roy, Socio-Economic Development in India, Mohit Publications, New Delhi, 2001, pp.67-lll. The article provides a list of recommendations provided by the National Policy Review Committee (NPERC) to reduce gender disparities in education in India. Among them, the recommendation to incorporate the issue of regional disparities into the operational design for universalisation of girls' access to elementary education is the most prominent one. Similarly, Vimala Ramachandran (ed), Gender and Social Equity in Primary Education: Hierarchies of Access, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2004, provides details on gender-related discriminations in education.

111

Table 2.15

Districts-wise School Dropout Rates in North Karnataka (As per Children's Census 2002)

Districts Number of children Number of out of ---:-

Percentage of out of aged 6-14 years school children school children

aged 6-14 years-98 Belgaum 887547 60351 6.80 Bijapur 342907 44905 13.10 Bagalkot 317344 35004 11.03 Dharwad 270612 19496 7.20 Gadag 168228 15521 9.23 Haveri 249883 22322 8.93 UK 209553 14984 7.15 Bombay-Karnataka 2446074 212583 8.69 Bellary 369173 48616 13.17 Bidar 303358 17910 5.90 Gulbarga 446618 104460 23.38 Raichur 310789 49467 15.92 Ko}J}Jal 223003 36367 16.31 Hyderabad- 1652941 256820 15.53 Karnataka North Karnataka 4099015 469403 11.45 South Karnataka 4923847 196913 3.99 STATE 9022862 666316 7.38

Source: Compiled from Educational Statistics At A Glance, Office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction (CPI), Government ofKarnataka, Bangalore, 2002-03, p.7

It is evident from the above table that there is a regional pattern in terms of

dropout rates of school going children in North Karnataka. The highest percentage of

dropouts is concentrated in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region ( 15.53 per cent) with the

Gulbarga district alone having 23.38 percentage of its school-going child population

as dropouts. This speaks volumes for the poor status of education in Hyderabad­

Karnataka region. This region tops the list both in terms of dropouts for boys and

girls. Hence, it is implied that the Hyderabad-Karnataka region is suffering from

double disadvantage in schooling, as there is poor rate of enrolment and high rate of

dropouts, particularly for the girl children.56 The Children Census-2002, which was

conducted by the Department of Education, Government of Karnataka has also

revealed the fact that there are 6.66 lakh "out of school children" between the age

group of 6 and 14 years in the state. In other words, 7.38 per cent of the total 90.22-

56 For more information on enrolment and dropout rate for girls, refer, the Perspective Plan for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 2001-02 to 2009-10, office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction, Government ofKamataka, Bangalore, 2005.

112

lakh children in this age group are out of the school in the state. It was also revealed

that more than 50.54 per cent of these "out of school children" are from the seven out

of total twelve districts of North Karnataka. They are Bidar, Bellary, Bagalkot,

Bijapur, Gulbarga, Koppal and Raichur. Nearly, 49.24 per cent of the children have

not been availing the pre-primary education in Yadgir taluk ofGulbarga district.57

Public Policies on Education in Karnataka

The state government of Karnataka has initiated various programmes to improve the

status of education in the state. In fact, it has initiated its own policies to attract

students to formal schooling and improve the rate of literacy, particularly in backward

region. In this regard, the following section provides brief note on public policies of

the state on education. Although it is not a district wise study but the objective of the

policies are identified in the study.

District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)

The DPEP programme was launched in 1994-95 covering eleven districts of the state.

The districts were identified based on their low female literacy rate. The selected

districts have also had higher infant and mother mortality rates, more adverse sex

ratios and poorer per capita incomes. The four districts selected in Phase I were

Belgaum, Kolar, Mandya and Raichur. The additional seven districts were covered in

Phase II were Bangalore (Rural), Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Dharwad, Gulbarga and

Mysore. Thus, DPEP covered the entire northern and eastern part of the state, which

has been traditionally more backward than the rest of the state.

The DPEP programme aimed at augmenting the state government's efforts at

achieving universal primary education in these backward districts through providing

access to all children by formal or non-formal education systems. It also aimed at

ensuring universal participation by children in the education system and improving

the quality of teaching-learning transactions at the lower primary stage. The DPEP

focus was also on improving access, participation and achievement by children from

57 The Children Census 2002 of the Government of Kamataka, Deccan Herald, Bangalore, April 17,2002. Yadgir taluk is the most backward taluk in the state in terms of all indicators of social development. The census was conducted between February 14 and 16 to ascertain educational status of children in the age group of 6-14 years and find out reasons for children not going to school in the state. The main reasons cited for children being out of school were household work, livelihood, taking care of young siblings etc. The census also revealed that there were 73062 physically handicapped children in the age group of 6-14 years.

113

marginalized groups, particularly girls and students from scheduled castes and

scheduled tribes.

In the first four years, there has been progress in many areas, including

techniques and activities for people's mobilization and their participation in the

education process through a variety of programmes, like kala jathas, chinnara melas,

VEC melas and micro planning. These programmes aimed at involving the

community in taking responsibility for universalizing primary education in their areas.

Progress has also been made in improving the quality of teaching-learning transaction

by providing all children in classes I-IV with competency based, activity cum

workbooks and teachers with relevant guides. A comparison between the results of

baseline and mid term achievement tests for the Phase I districts indicates visible

improvement in the learning levels achieved.58 The quality of teaching-learning

transaction was also sought to be improved through development of a variety of

supplementary material, such as a monthly wall-newspaper for children entitled Kali

Nali, material promoting the rural language as opposed to the very formal,

standardized and prescriptive language generally used in the classroom, which tends

to inhibit language development - Tarna Paksi, Baro Gijuga, Huiyyo Huiyyo

Maleraya, Kathe Kathe Karunda. Supplementary material had also been developed

for VEC members. Those included namma uru shale, namma uru )ana and namma

urina shale heege irali. These materials used in training programmes for the large

number of actors involved in the education process, including teachers, VEC

members, educational administrators and training staff themselves. 59 Training

manuals created by DPEP include Chiguru, Manthana and Aadona Baa for teachers,

Gram Shikshana Samiti Kaipidi for VEC members, Suksmayojane for micro-planning

teams and Mukya shikshakara tarbeti kaipidi for headmasters. Training was

conducted in a participatory mode with the help of full time faculty at block resource

centres and cluster resource centres.60

58 For more details on the success ofDPEP in Dharwad and Raichur districts of North Karnataka, See Annual Work Plan and Budgets (2000-2001, Officer of the District Project Co-ordinator for Dharwad and Raichur districts.

59 See DPEP, Kamataka, Annual Report 2000-01, Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2001, p.36.

60 See Report of Human Development in Karnataka, 1999, Department of Planning, Government of Kamataka, Bangalore, 1999, p.51:

114

The progress in implementation of DPEP is uneven across districts in

Karnataka. Non-formal education systems to provide access to children who are out

of school because of domestic and wage earning responsibilities have yet to take root.

More work need to be done in the area of multi-grade teaching. There is also need for

continuous academic resource support and for institutionalizing a rigorous system of

academic monitoring to ensure that material created and the new teaching-learning

pedagogy reach the classroom. A new vision of the classroom and the school must

grow, in which children are not expected to be silent or mute recipients of information

and knowledge which is 'poured' into their heads, but are active and dynamic partners

in the entire learning process. All those involved in education policy planners,

administrators, trainers, teachers and the community, must share this vision.

Sarva Sbiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a time-bound initiative of the Central

Government, in partnership with the States, the local governments and the

community, to provide elementary education to aU children in the age group 6-I4

years by 20 I 0. It recognises the importance of community owned system organized in

a mission mode for improving reach and performance of the school system. In

particular, its objectives are: aU children in school, education guarantee centre,

alternate school, 'Back to School' Camp by 2003; aU children to complete five years

of primary schooling by 2007; aU children to complete eight years schooling by 20IO;

focus on quality elementary education with emphasis on education for life; to bridge

aU gender and social category gaps at primary state by 2007 and at elementary

education level by 201 0; and universal retentio~ by 20 I 0. 61

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan seeks to bring about convergence of existing

institutional effort for elementary education at state and district level. The programme

seeks functional decentralization right down to the school level in order to improve

community participation. Besides, involving the Panchayat Raj Institutions/Tribal

Councils in Schedule Areas, the states governments are also encouraged to strengthen

the accountability in implementation of the programme by involving NGOs, teachers,

activists and women's organisations. The programme intended to cover the entire

country before March 2002. The duration of the programme in every district

61 See Annual Report 2002-03, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Department of Public Instruction, Government ofKarnataka, Bangalore,2003, p.2.

II5

depended on the District Elementary Education Plan, which reflect the specific needs

of each district.

According to broad assessments made by the Department of Elementary

Education and Literacy, Government of India, nearly Rs. 60,000 crore additional

budgetary resources are required from the Central and the state governments over the

next ten years for implementing this initiative. The actual requirement of funds is to

be worked out when the District Elementary Education Plans are finalised in the

districts.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Karnataka attempted to carry forward the DPEP

experiences and expand the activities to cover the entire state. While DPEP was

limited to the lower Primary level (I-IV grades), SSA covers elementary level (I-VIII

grades). All the educational activities and interventions are now brought under the

single umbrella of SSA. During the year 2001-02, the system was put in place and

implementing community awareness programmes in Karnataka completed the

groundwork for the successful take off of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Special Enrolment Schemes in Karnataka

The state government of Karnataka initiated number of programme to initiate

special enrolment drive in Karnataka. The programmes intended to bring back all

school dropouts and improve enrolment of retention rate in its attempt to universalize

elementary education. The following major programme gives brief account of special

enrolment programmes in Karnataka such as NPEGEL and bridge courses called

Chinnara Angala, Baa Marali Shalege etc.

National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL)

For the under privileged and disadvantaged girls in 45 Educationally

Backward Blocks (EBB) where female rural literacy rate is below the national

average of 46.7 per cent and the gender gap is above the national average of 24.7 per

cent, a new programme called "National Programme for Education of Girls at

Elementary Level" (NPEGEL) was formally launched by the Honorable Chief

Minister of the State on the Rajyotsava day i.e. on 1.11.2004. This programme is

implemented in 45 EBBs spread over 14 districts. Out of which, in 21 EBBs

implementation of the programme was done by "Mahila Samakhya" and in the

remaining 24 EBBs implementation was done by the concerned District and Block

116

Implementation Committees. Under this programme, higher primary schools in which

the enrollment of Schedule9 Caste and Scheduled Tribes and the minority community

girls are more and which are accessible to at least 8 to I 0 villages in that cluster has

been identified, and the school has been designated as "Model Cluster School"

(MCS). In the 45 EBBs 482 such Model Cluster Schools have been approved.

This programme was also implemented in the selected urban slums and in

those blocks where out of the total population, at least 5 per cent are Scheduled Caste

and Scheduled Tribes and the literacy rate of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes

is less than 10 per cent from the year 2004-05. In the PAB meeting held on 11.2.2004,

it was agreed that the total outlay of the state for NPEGEL activities was Rs.I86.00

lakhs. In the meeting held on 23.2.2004 the concerned DYPCs were instructed to

undertake the activities as envisage in their A WP & B. During March 2004, the

Government of India released an amount of Rs. 34.87 lakhs being the I st installment

of its share. 62

Chinnara Angala Programme

This is a unique endeavor aimed to bring the students in the age group 6 to 14

years to the mainstream of education after training them in summer camps. This is

mainly aimed at children belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, Labour

Class and Other Backward Classes. This programme was conducted in six education

blocks on an experimental basis and about 2000 children were admitted to school

during the year 2000-01. During 2002-04, Rs.50.00 lakhs was allocated for

implementation ofthis scheme.

Bha Marali Shalege Campaign (Come back to School)

A campaign has been organized for out of school children, long absentees, and

for enrolment of children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. The main objective of this

campaign is to bring back out of school children and long absentee children. Around

2.24 lakh children have come back to school fold and they are engaged in remedial

teaching activities in the state. The response to this programme is highly encouraging.

During 2003-04, Beediyienda Shalege and Ba Baale Shalege campaigns have been

organised for out of school children, long absentee children. Under this campaign

62 Annual Report 2003-04, Department of Education, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2004, p. 20.

117

0.12 lakhs children have come back to school fold. However, the district wis~

not available to assess the impact of this programme in different regions of the statt:~

Coolienda Shalege (from labour to school)

To free the school going children from the bondage of child labour and admit

them to school is the main object of the Coolienda Shalege campaign launched by the

government of Kamataka. It is against the law to engage children, who are within the

age group 6 to 14 as child labour under articles 23 and 24 of the Constitution.

Furthermore, they enjoy the fundamental right to primary education under article 21A

of the Constitution, which makes the state to provide free and compulsory education

to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the state may, by

law, determine. Accordingly, the government of Karnataka launched a state level

publicity campaign under the SSA during February-March 2003. Under this

campaign, the teachers, educationists, non-government organisations, officials of

Labour Department, Social Welfare Department, Department of Women and Child

Welfare and Police are incorporated and actively participated to ensure children are

brought back to school. With this concrete step, all efforts are being made to bring

them back to school. Around 3,261 children brought to school fold. While publicity

have been given to TV and AIR for this purpose.

Mid Day Meal Programme

The midday meal programme, funded by the Union government is being

implemented several states. The scheme is expected to improve the participation of

children in schools and improve the nutritional standards and health of children. It is

also expected that it will reduce the rate of school dropouts in rural areas. In

Karnataka the mid-day meal programme is being implemented in the local name of

Akshara Dasoha. This scheme of providing hot cooked mid day meal was initially

introduced in 7 districts of North-East Karnataka, i.e., Bellary, Bidar, Gulbarga,

Raichur, Koppal, Bagalkot and Bijapur. In the second stage, the programme is

extended to the remaining 20 districts of the state. The most common meal is rice and

sambhar across schools in Kamataka.

In terms of its performance, the programme seems to be working well as it is

too early to judge the performance of this programme. However, this scheme has

shown great deal of improvement across all the districts in the state. The most

118

significant improvement of the programme can be seen in increased attendance of

children in the schools.63 The average attendance of the children in schools has

increased over the years. Under the scheme hot cooked meal is served to all the

government primary school children studying in I to V standards in 8724 government

and government aided private primary schools in all the districts coming under North­

East Karnataka. This program is running successfully in all the primary schools of

North-East Karnataka from June 2002. This program covers 16.14 lakh children. The

children are also given de-worming and Vitamin A tablets. The budget for the year

2000-01 for the program was Rs. 4500 lakh. The state government during 2001-02

and 2002-03 for this programme has released a total of 5962 lakhs. This programme

aims at reducing dropouts, improving student enrolment and daily attendance,

checking fake attendance, besides providing nutrition to children. Since this is a new

program, its impact on enrolment and nutrition of children needs to be assessed across

district and regions in Karnataka. The table below shows the district wise details of

number of schools, midday meal centers, and beneficiaries under the programme.

Table 2.16

District wise Number of Schools and Beneficiaries of Midday Meal Programme in North Karnataka

District Schools* MMCenters** Beneficiaries (in lakhs)

Gulbarga 1110 1069 2.53 Yadgir 808 746 1.61 Raichur 1167 1059 2.08 Koppal 833 747 1.55 Bidar 914 904 1.78 Bijapur 1514 1200 2.50 Bagalkot 1100 822 1.96 Bellary 1278 1033 2.13 Total 8724 7580 16.14

Source: Final Draft of the Action Plans for School Education Programmes in North East Kamataka, Department of Public Instruction, Government ofKarnataka, 2002, p.20.

Note: • Government Primary Schools having I to V standards only.

•• Two or more schools are combined to form on midday meal center for convenience.

63 For more details on the successful implementation of the Midday Meal Scheme in Kamataka, Farzana Afridi, "Midday Meals in Two States Comparing the Financial and Institutional Organisation of the Programme, Economic and Political Weekly, April9,_ 2005, pp.l528-1535.

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Public Spending on Education

The priority accorded by the government to social development is always

gauged from the proportion of public expenditure set aside for social sectors in the

budget. The share of education in national and state's total spending is the standard

indicator of national efforts on the development of education in a society. This also

reflects on the relative ·priority accorded to education in the national and state

economy. In India, a target of investing 6 per cent of national income on education is

fixed based on the recommendation ofthe Education Commission in 1966. But India

is spending around 4 per cent on education. The goal of spending 6 per cent of GDP

has remained elusive nearly after 40 years in India. This is one glaring promise that

continues to remain a goal as the targets are repeatedly postponed and unfulfilled in

India. The on-going process of economic reforms has affected the already less public

spending on education.

A series of public expenditure ratios have been generated by the UNDP for

this purpose. Among those, the ratio of public spending to a State's Domestic Product

(SOP) has been selected by the present study. Besides, it is considered as a broad

indicator of the extent of state intervention in social development. Government

expenditure in Karnataka accounted for nearly a quarter of the state domestic product.

About one-third of the total expenditure was earmarked for social services, two-fifths

for economic services, and one-fourth for general services. Thus slightly more than

one-sixth of the state income was spent on development. The allocation for the social

sector, however, was far from adequate in the state. About one-sixth of the total

expenditure, or 4 per cent of state income, was allocated to educational services. The

per capita annual expenditure on education was Rs. 206, half of which was on primary

education, slightly more than a quarter on secondary education and one-sixth on

higher education. Only one-tenth of the aggregate expenditure on education was part

of the Plan outlay.

The public and the private sector both finance education in the state. In the

public sector both the state and the central governments spend for education, while in

the private sector it is the households and other private organizations and corporate

bodies spend on education. In the case of aided schools, the contribution of the

government also needs to be reckoned. The state government has the major

responsibility for secondary education and direct responsibly for elementary

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education. The education sector has multiple sources of finance. These include the

states own revenue (both tax and non-tax revenues) transfers from the central

government, the block assistance for the state plan and the centrally sponsored

schemes of the Central Ministry of Human Resource Development. The state

government finances its own institutions and the privately aided institutions.

Share of Education in SDP

In spite of fairly high rate of growth of income ( 12 per cent GSDP) in the state

during the nineties, the proportion of income devoted to education is close to 4 per

cent in Karnataka. It is slightly higher as compared to the all India average (3. 7 per

cent) and also in relation to that found in many other states. As regards the share of

total expenditure in SDP, it is more realistic to examine the share of expenditure of

each level of education in SDP. It is found that the state is devoting highest share of

its income on elementary education followed by secondary and other levels. But it is

interesting to note that in the year 1990-91, the share of elementary education was

1.63 per cent and in the year 2001-02 it has remained unaltered. However, the

following table 2.17 provides detailed information on resource allocation to education

Karnataka and its trends and patterns for the years from 1990-91 to 2000-0 I.

Table 2.17

Resource Allocation to Education in Karnataka: Trends and Patterns 1990-2001 (Rs. in crores)

Year Total Expenditure Per cent for Per cent on Per cent on Revenue on education education primary secondary and Capital education education expenditure

1990-91 462.90 758.52 16.39 53.73 29.20 1991-92 5739.98 908.08 15.85 51.57 30.02 1992-93 6378.32 1040.05 16.30 50.89 32.93 1993-94 7321.08 1210.86 16.53 53.77 30.16 1994-95 8401.34 1368.99 16.29 52.34 30.80 1995-96 9721.63 1611.84 16.57 53.24 31.43 1996-97 11353.04 1805.53 15.90 53.97 30.73 1997-98 12942.32 2057.96 16.14 53.65 31.45 1998-99 15579.74 243.23 16.73 53.64 31.95 1999-2000 17818.63 2747.45 16.61 53.29 31.54 2000-2001 20061.06 3489.67 17.67 49.21 28.03

Source: Ramesh Kanbargi, Equity in Education in Karnataka, Education Department, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore, 2002, p. 44.

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Issues

The above analysis shows that there exist serious imbalances in development

of education within North Karnataka region. It is also revealing that the three low

ranking districts. in terms of all indicators of educational development belong to the

Hyderabad-Karnataka region of the state. The persistence of dismal performance of

education in these backward districts raises some fundamental doubts with regard to

the state's commitment to improve standard of education in backward regions, which

have inherited almost nothing positive from the colonial rule. Despite continued

efforts of the state government, these regions have not been able to maintain pace

with the changing scenario of education in the state. It is also revealing the fact that

the entire North Karnataka is not uniform in terms of development of education. The

districts of Hyderabad-Karnataka region continue to lag behind in input indicators of

educational development and hence remain poor in terms of output indicators of

educational development in North Karnataka. The low literacy rate, poor educational

infrastructure, differential rate of literacy among women and by region, increasing

rate of school drop-outs and out of school children in Hyderabad-Karnataka region

continue to be a matter of great concern for the state government of Karnataka. As a

result, the youths in this region have become unable to contribute their energy to the

betterment of their families' vis-a-vis to the growth of the region as this region lacks

suitable infrastructure and politico-administrative commitment for the growth of

education. This bane of poor educational infrastructure has become the major reason

for the persistent poor human development and thus people of this region lack the

required spirit of entrepreneurship and will power to fight for their genuine rights.

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