Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jul 3: Till recently, the people did not have a good opinion about government schools. The children who used to be admitted into private schools earlier, are turning towards government schools, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has created an upheaval in the education sector during the last year and a half. The parents, in addition to facing worries about online, YouTube lessons etc are also compelled to pay high fees. People in Bengaluru and elsewhere had raised their voices against having to pay full fees for the children who have never attended the schools for the last 15 months.

Parents and managements of private schools used to have a heated debate on the issue. Many protests and agitations have been held by the parents but many schools are adamant about not changing their fee structure. The parents therefore were in a fix over educating their children.

Representational image

Now, admissions into government schools have reached new highs. The admission process for the year 2021-22 has been high in government schools with lacs of students seeking admission into government schools. The admissions began on June 15 and till now, 16.53 lac children have got admission into government schools. Parents who find it hard to pay the fee of private schools are admitting the children into government schools. Parents who have gone back to their villages from cities due to corona fear too have sought admission for the children in government schools.

As against the above, 3.10 lac students have got admitted into aided schools while 4.49 lac have admitted into other private schools. As admission deadline has been extended to August, more students are likely get admitted into government schools. In the district level too government schools are racing ahead of private schools. Commissioner in the department of public instruction, Anbu Kumar, commenting about this trend, said that parents who have left cities and returned to rural areas have mostly admitted their children into government schools. He also said that over 16 lac children have got admission into government schools from standards 1 to 10. Efforts are on to bring back children who have dropped out of school, he said.