"Save our school": Students request CM

Bengaluru: Earlier this week, students from Chitradurga district who waited to see Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy during his daily Janata Darshan to give direct access to people to meet him. The students had come to save their government school from closure.

Due to shortage of students, the government has issued an order to shut the government school in their village of Alaghatta, about 250 kms from Bengaluru.

“Why they have done this is because there are 43 of us (students). Earlier there were 52. There are private schools in our village. The private schools have given money and taken the students away. So the strength of our school has reduced,” said Navina, a student.

“The private schools have paid bribes and moved our school. There are no teachers there now. The school had been running for 30 years. For 8 days now there is no school, no food. They have locked the school and gone,” said one parent who accompanied the students to Bengaluru to meet the chief minister claiming that the school was closed due to pressure from private schools.

As the CM was about to leave the area, he saw he children. Mr Kumaraswamy listened to their request and assured that the school would stay open.

“It is an old school but because of poor basic amenities and because the numbers of students is low in this school we gave a proposal to the government on shifting to another school. The government gave the order to transfer the school. We are following the government order.  If the government gives another order we will reopen the school,” said A J Antony, deputy director of public instruction (DDPI), Chitradurga.

“Our school should stay. I want to study in this school till SSLC… We protested in front of the DDPI but he didn’t say anything. They said it was senior officials who had decided and we would have to go to Bengaluru. We came at night to tell the chief minister that we want the school there,” said Chandana, a student.