Committed to improve quality of education and ensure accessibility to all in Karnataka: School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa

Shivamogga

Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa on Saturday (October 11, 2025) said that he had been working towards improving the quality of education, ensuring equality and enhancing accessibility for all as minister in the Karnataka state cabinet, in charge of primary and secondary education.

In an interaction with the media in Shivamogga, Mr. Bangarappa said that the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar offered him the education portfolio, expressing faith in his abilities.

“I took it as a challenge, and now I am happy with the responses from people from different sections of society for my work in the department. Initially, a section of media was busy commenting on my Kannada language and hairstyle. However, as the days went by, people began to talk about the progress the department had achieved,” he said.

Stating that he had been making efforts to improve the quality of education, the Minister said that the government would be setting up 800 new Karnataka Public Schools (KPS). Earlier it was decided to have only 500 KP schools, but the number had been increased to 800. A programme to lay the foundation stone for the construction of schools will be held in Shivamogga in the coming days.

The minister said he had requested Chief Minister to grant aid to Kannada schools started between 1995 and 2005. The CM might take up the issue in the coming budget. Besides that, his department had decided to fill up vacancies in the aided institutions.

“We have also decided to shift teachers in aided schools, where the students’ strength is low, to other aided schools. However, some aided schools are refusing to take such teachers, hoping that they might get a chance to recruit afresh. We will soon bring in a policy such that aided schools should not refuse to take teachers assigned to them,” he stated.

Further, Mr. Bangarappa said that his department had decided to set up a school for students with cancer in Bengaluru. The land suitable for the school had been identified at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology in the capital city.

Similarly, another school would come up in Tirthahalli for children who need special care.

The interaction with the media was organised by the Shivamogga Press Trust. Trust president N. Manjunath and secretary Nagaraj Nerige were also present.