The Hindu (National) ·
Aided institutions threaten to close schools, colleges from November 3
The management and employees of private aided educational institutions in Karnataka, particularly in North Karnataka, have threatened to shut schools and colleges indefinitely from November 3 if the State government fails to address their long-pending demands relating to pension, recruitment, service benefits, and administrative issues.
Former Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti, who is also the president of the Private Aided Institutions’ Management and Employees Agitation Coordination Committee, told presspersons in Hubballi on Thursday that aided primary and secondary schools and pre-university colleges, which had played an important role in providing education in the State for several decades, were now facing several financial, administrative, and service-related problems.
Mr. Horatti said that 69.78% of the total private aided Kannada medium schools and colleges in the State were located in North Karnataka (Belagavi and Kalaburagi divisions), while 17% were in Mangaluru, and 13% in the Bengaluru division. “The highest number of such aided institutions are in North Karnataka, and over 9,000 posts are vacant. In order to highlight the problems, a protest march will be taken out in Dharwad on November 2, and a memorandum will be submitted to the Chief Minister. We have brought our problems to the notice of the government well in advance, and if there is no positive response, we will be forced to lock down the institutions from November 3”, he said.
The foremost demand of the committee is the extension of the old pension scheme to employees of aided institutions appointed after April 1, 2006. The Committee also wants old pension benefits for employees whose recruitment notifications were issued before April 1, 2006, but whose appointments were approved and brought under grant-in-aid subsequently.
The committee has also demanded the implementation of notional pay benefits for eligible aided-school employees in accordance with court directions referred to by the organisation. Filling vacant teaching posts in aided schools is another major demand. The organisations said posts falling vacant due to retirement, resignation, death and other reasons should be filled without further delay, as prolonged vacancies were affecting teaching and the quality of education.
Terming the decision to establish KPS and PM SHRI schools in close proximity to existing aided schools idiotic, Mr. Horatti said that although the rules mandated a three-kilometre distance criterion, it was being violated with impunity to permit new institutions by the government. In the absence of strong Ministers for school education, the officials were calling the shots and were taking unilateral decisions that were detrimental to the education system, he alleged.
Mr. Horatti said that the committee was also demanding the simplification of the school recognition renewal process. A transparent, time-bound and fully online system should be implemented, he said. Apart from this, a review of the teacher-student ratio was also sought, particularly for aided schools in Malnad and border districts, where enrolment had declined due to migration and other factors.
Mr. Horatti said that teachers are increasingly burdened with online data entry and the maintenance of multiple records, leaving less time for classroom teaching. The issues should be redressed on a priority basis, he demanded.
Other demands of the committee include bringing Kannada-medium unaided schools established after 1995 under grant-in-aid, extending facilities available to government-school students and employees to aided institutions, implementing health benefits such as Arogya Sanjeevini, extending menstrual leave to women employees, filling vacant posts in subjects such as music, drawing and drama, and increasing assistance for eggs and bananas under nutrition programmes.
Committee office-bearers G.R. Bhat, Sandeep Budihal and others were present.
Published - September 17, 2026 09:02 pm IST