5 years in school, they cant write, speak Kannada

These are Kannada medium schools, but even fifth standard students here can neither write nor speak Kannada.

The Government Kannada Medium Lower Primary Schools in Bhikku Naik and Chandu Naik tandas (tribal settlements) under Konchavaram gram panchayat of Chincholi taluk of Gulbarga district have just two teachers each, with the senior among them doubling up as the headmaster.

The 45 students, including 12 girls, in the Bhikku Naik tanda and 17 boys and 17 girls in the Chandu Naik tanda, are all tribals and speak only their dialect.

Most of the students who spoke to Express at Bhikku Naik tanda said both their teachers attend school according to their whims and have not taught them either Kannada or Hindi.

Their parents too confirmed that their children could not write the Kannada and Hindi alphabet.

And even two months after the beginning of the academic year, the children of both the schools are yet to receive their books and uniforms. There are 12 such tandas in the gram panchayat and the schools here are said to be in the same sorry state.

When this correspondent visited the Bhikku Naik tanda Lower Primary School, it was found locked. At the Chandu Naik tanda, only one teacher was present.

When questioned about the inability of the students to speak or write Kannada and Hindi, the teacher blamed the students, alleging that they were not interested in learning the languages.

Though there are more than 100 children in both these tandas in the age group of 5 to 14 years, barely half of them attend school.

When contacted, district officer, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, C S Mudhol told Express there were 900 vacancies for school teachers in the district. “In case we transfer errant teachers from these tanda schools, hiring new teachers will not be easy. Though there is a provision to hire teachers at a monthly honorarium of `3,500, the district administration has not taken any action,” he said.

The sorry state of affairs at the tandas was evident in the community hall of Chandu Naik tanda which was being used as a cowshed while one room of the Anganawadi Centre at the tanda, which was closed, was being used to house sheep.