Hubballi: Former legislative council chairman and MLC Basavaraj Horatti on Thursday warned that schools and colleges across North Karnataka would be closed indefinitely from Nov 3 if the govt does not fill vacancies in aided institutions and provide basic facilities. Speaking to reporters, Horatti said institutions in the Belagavi and Kalaburagi divisions would join the shutdown. A protest march will be held in Dharwad on Nov 2, followed by the submission of a memorandum to the DC. Around 10,000 teachers are expected to participate. He alleged that recruitment in aided schools had not taken place since 1995, forcing many institutions towards closure. Some schools were functioning with just one teacher, while several Kannada-medium aided schools faced the threat of shutting down. Horatti claimed there were 29,000 vacant teaching posts in govt institutions and 9,000 vacancies in aided schools. He accused the Siddaramaiah govt of neglecting education and said the sector had deteriorated over the past five to six years. Referring to the public-school model introduced in 2017, Horatti said it envisaged education from nursery to PUC on a single campus, but was being implemented poorly.
