Karnataka plans to launch 700 Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) in 2026–27. Experts warn this could lead to the closure of 7,000 government schools due to mergers and declining student enrolment across the state.
Bengaluru: In a significant step towards restructuring the government school ecosystem, the Education Department has approved the conversion of the Government Primary and High School in Honganur, Channapatna taluk, Bengaluru South district, into a Karnataka Public School (KPS). Alongside this, permission has been granted to merge seven primary schools located within a six-kilometre radius. Acting on the order, the local Block Education Officer has already initiated the merger process. This development represents only one instance of a much larger transformation that the state is preparing to implement over the coming years.
Not the First Time Karnataka Is Pursuing Mergers
Declining enrolment in government schools has made it increasingly difficult to provide adequate teachers, classrooms, infrastructure, and learning resources. To address these gaps, the state intends to run one KPS per Gram Panchayat, offering education from LKG to Class 12 under one integrated campus.
Currently, 307 KPS institutions are operating across Karnataka, formed through the merger of thousands of existing schools. The new order from the Education Department now accelerates this model, approving 700 additional Karnataka Public Schools (including 200 in Kalyana Karnataka) to begin functioning from the 2026–27 academic year. Since each KPS requires the merger of five to ten surrounding schools, this move is expected to result in the closure of an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 government schools across the state.
Teacher Shortage and Infrastructure Gaps Driving Decisions
Karnataka faces a shortage of over 60,000 teachers, and nearly 6,000 teachers retire every year. Despite this, successive governments have not filled the vacancies. By law, each school must have at least one teacher per subject, or at minimum one teacher per classroom, something that is impossible to achieve with the current distribution of students across sparsely populated schools.
Each school is also legally entitled to essential facilities such as classrooms, teaching materials, a mid-day meal room, a library, toilets, and support staff. Due to these constraints, governments that publicly claim they will not close government schools have continued merging institutions in the name of “rationalisation”. As a result, the number of government schools has dropped from 50,000 in 2010 to 46,000 today.
Education expert VP Niranjanaradhya expressed concern, calling the decision a “shocking move” allegedly taken by the minister without the knowledge of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He argued that the Chief Minister, as the custodian of social justice, must clarify the rationale behind large-scale school closures.
Future Threat: Up to 25,000 Schools Could Be Affected
Data from the Education Department reveals that Karnataka has over 25,000 government schools with fewer than 50 students, including 5,000 schools with fewer than 10 students. With the plan to set up one KPS per Gram Panchayat every year, a large number of these small schools could eventually face closure.
Student enrolment in government schools has already fallen by 30% over the last 15 years, contributing to the urgency behind the merger strategy.
Administrative Machinery Quietly Begins Closure Process
District-level DDPIs and Block Education Officers have already started preliminary exercises to identify schools for merging. This follows earlier rounds in which thousands of schools were permanently closed or combined into KPS institutions.
Why Schools Are Being Merged?
- Falling student numbers in government schools.
- Insufficient resources to provide teachers, classrooms, and infrastructure across all schools.
- Plan to establish one Karnataka Public School per Gram Panchayat offering LKG–Class 12 under a single campus.
- Merger of 5–10 surrounding schools into each KPS.
- Existing network of 307 KPS schools, with thousands already merged earlier.
- 700 new KPS schools approved for next year, into which surrounding schools will be merged.