Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Oct 28: A year-long campaign to highlight the challenges facing Kannada-medium schools across Karnataka and neighbouring states is documenting issues ranging from school closures and teacher shortages to children struggling to reach classrooms, according to a report in The Times of India.
The campaign, 'Kannada Shala Ulisi Belesi Abhiyana' (Save and Develop Kannada Schools Campaign), aims to cover Karnataka's 31 districts and 239 taluks, as well as Kannada-medium schools in the border regions of Goa, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Unais Peraje, the campaign's state convener, began the journey in Kasargod, Kerala, initially planning to spend five days there. However, he eventually stayed for 40 days, visiting schools and attempting to understand their problems first-hand.
During the visits, the campaign found Malayalam-speaking teachers teaching in Kannada-medium schools and raised the issue with local education authorities. Near Panathur, it identified a Kannada school at risk of closure due to low enrolment. The campaign has made a small donation to the school and plans to seek further assistance from the Border Area Development Authority.
In Delampady, children have to walk about half a kilometre along dirt tracks to reach school. Peraje said the campaign had urged the local MLA to arrange for the road to be repaired.
“Our priority is to ensure that Kannada schools do not shut down. We believe our culture can be preserved only if Kannada schools survive,” says Peraje.
Peraje said more than 5,000 schools had closed across Karnataka in recent years. Over the past decade, the campaign has supported around 170 schools by providing furniture, stationery and equipment.
The campaign's key demands include preventing the closure of government schools, ensuring free and equal education for every child, and giving preference in government recruitment to those educated in government schools. It also seeks to make Kannada compulsory in private English-medium schools and wants government employees to enrol their children only in government schools.
The journey is largely self-funded, with a team of four to five members travelling to schools and experiencing local challenges first-hand. Residents also join the team along the way, sharing their concerns and helping document the difficulties faced by schools and communities.
Beyond documenting school conditions, the campaign records Kannada heritage, including inscriptions and forts, and recognises individuals working to promote the language.
Through its year-long journey, the campaign aims to draw attention to the challenges confronting Kannada-medium education, highlight schools at risk of closure and mobilise support for preserving the language and its cultural heritage across Karnataka and neighbouring states.