Parents, students stage protest to save govt. school in Ballari district

Students and parents on Wednesday staged a protest outside the Government Higher Primary School at Hosa Yaragudi village in Ballari taluk demanding that the school be protected from closure and opposing its proposed merger under the State government’s Karnataka Public Schools scheme.

The protest was organised under the leadership of All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) with villagers, parents and schoolchildren participating in large numbers.

Addressing the protesters, AIDSO district vice-president Shanti said that the Hosa Yaragudi government school is the only public school available for children from poor families in the village.

“If this school is closed and students are forced to attend a magnet school, how can five-year-old children walk over a kilometre every day?” she asked.

She pointed out that villagers earlier collectively struggled to repair the approach road to the school when its condition deteriorated and also demanded that the school be upgraded to include classes up to eight.

“More than 150 students are enrolled here. The parents, who are mostly farmers and daily-wage labour, strongly oppose the closure of this school,” she said.

Referring to social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, Ms. Shanti said that they devoted their lives to spreading education among the oppressed, Dalits and women.

She also recalled the vision of freedom fighters such as Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose who believed that providing education to every child born in Independent India is the responsibility of the State.

“Successive governments, instead of strengthening public education, are depriving children from poor families of their right to schooling and pushing society further into darkness,” she said.

Calling for a united struggle, she urged people to strengthen the Public Education Protection Committee and launch a powerful movement to safeguard and improve government schools.

She appealed to people to rise above caste and religious divisions and resist the privatisation of education by building a new mass movement to defend public education.

AIDSO district secretary Kambali Manjunath, members Kantesh and Tippeswamy, School Development and Monitoring Committee president Nagamma, Government School Protection Committee president Parvati, secretary Ambanna, members Shekhar, Pothappa, Lakshmamma, village elders, students and parents were among those who took part in the protest.