Kageri must step down: Critic G K Govindrao

BANGALORE: Launching a scathing attack on the State Government for its decision to close down government schools with less than five and ten students, critic Prof G K Govindrao demanded the minister responsible for this decision - Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri - must step down immediately. He was addressing a gathering of students at a Students Federation of India ‘s (SFI) State-level convention on Thursday. “They say they will send the children to bigger and better schools, but who will bear the cost?” he questioned and went on to challenge Kageri to come to the forum for a debate. He then outlined what he claimed was a conspiracy by the government to pave way for starting Sangh Parivar run Saraswathi Shishu Mandir which would impart education with a Sangh Parivar touch. “It has spread in the north, we were spared because there was no BJP government here till now.”He said he was against the huge amounts of donation made by political leaders to religious institutions.  “If they had spent half the time they spend at the feet of religious leaders in the Vidhana Soudha, we would not have had to face this problem,” he said while pointing out that while the decision to shut down schools might seem logical, it is wrong on humanitarian grounds.  Former chairman of the Kannada Book Authority H G Siddaramaiah said, “Their decision to close schools is against the Right to Education.”