Karnataka government announces free education to girls till post-graduation

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced free education to all the girls studying in government institutions up to post-graduation, to encourage girl child education in the state.

Siddaramaiah, while presenting the Budget for 2018-19, said, “Rs 95 crore of the budget would be spent on providing free education for all the girl students taking admission in government pre-university (11th and 12th), degree and post-graduation courses.”

A total of 3.7 lakh girl students are expected to get benefit under this provision. In 2017, the Karnataka govt had announced free education for girls studying in class 1 up to graduation in government schools and government aided-private schools from 2018-19 academic year.

Presenting his 13^th state budget, Siddaramaiah said, “A total of Rs. 4,514 crore is being provided for higher education in 2018-19.”

During 2018-19, 100 ‘Karnataka Public Schools’ will be opened across the state, given an expenditure of Rs 5 lakh per school, and a total expenditure of Rs 5 crore, he said.

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The Chief Minister has allotted Rs 22,350 crore in the 2018-19 Budget for primary and secondary education in the state. He also said that CCTV cameras will be installed at all government and primary schools to ensure children safety.

Siddaramaiah said, “Rs 5 crore has been allocated to provide digital library facility through cloud computing to around 10 lakh students studying in government high schools and pre-university colleges.”
the Chief Minister also announced free bus passes to students across schools and colleges of the state from 2018-19, which is said to benefit 19.6 lakh students.