Left students slam govt school closure

Left-wing student organisations on Wednesday accused the Karnataka government of pushing ahead with a plan to shut down thousands of rural government schools under the "KPS Magnet" scheme, calling it an assault on public education and poor children's access to schools.

- NT Correspondent

The KPS Magnet scheme seeks to consolidate neighbourhood schools into larger and centrally located Karnataka Public Schools.

At a press conference at the Press Club of Bangalore, representatives of AISF, SFI, AIDSO, AISA and KVS released a copy of a government order which, they said, envisages the closure of over 40,000 government schools and their merger into about 6,000 KPS Magnet schools, with 900 such schools planned in the first phase.