Karnataka’s School Merger Plan Sparks Outcry: Activists Decry “Betrayal” of Poor Students’ Rights
Bengaluru – In a move that has ignited fierce condemnation from student groups and education activists, the Congress-led Karnataka government is advancing a sweeping proposal to merge or close over 25,000 state-run schools, a plan critics are branding a disastrous lie that will devastate education for the rural and urban poor. The government’s claim that this consolidation will improve quality is being met with stark warnings of surging dropout rates and a stealthy privatisation of public education.
The Department of School Education and Literacy has publicly outlined a strategy to shut 25,683 government schools with so-called “low enrolment,” merging them into larger “Magnet” institutions called Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) within a 1-5 km radius. Simultaneously, it promises to build 700 new KPS facilities. The All India Students’ Association (AISA), which is spearheading the opposition, has blasted the plan as a direct attack on educational access.
“For lakhs of children across the state, the closure of schools will render them without education,” stated AISA in a strong condemnation. The organisation highlighted the “deliberately kept ambiguous” definition of “low enrolment” and dismissed as “highly doubtful” the government’s assurance of providing buses to ferry students to distant schools. “This promise… requires the channelling of massive funds that are nowhere in sight,” they noted.
#EXCLUSIVE Thread:
Karnataka govt’s plan to merge/close 25,683 schools faces massive backlash.
Activists call it a “Trojan horse” for privatisation, warning of skyrocketing dropouts.
The move contradicts the RTE Act’s distance norms.
Financed by a ₹2,000Cr ADB loan,… pic.twitter.com/lyJWnivAAZ
— RafeeQ Jabbar Naqshbandi (@azzharee) December 18, 2025
A Broken Promise and a Contradictory Policy
The controversy is deepened by glaring policy contradictions. In 2023, the Congress government scrapped the BJP’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, pledging to replace it with a State Education Policy. Nearly two-and-a-half years later, that policy remains unframed.
Recently announced features, like extending Right to Education (RTE) coverage from ages 4 to 18, clash fundamentally with the merger scheme. The existing RTE Act mandates a school within 1 km for primary students and within 3 km for upper-primary students—a guarantee nullified by the current consolidation plan. This exposes a government lying to its citizens, saying one thing while doing the exact opposite, and gambling with the futures of its most vulnerable children.
The “Trojan Horse” of Corporate Takeover
Further fuel for criticism comes from the project’s financing. In 2025, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a ₹2,000 crore loan for KPS expansion, supplemented by ₹500 crore from the state. Educators have lambasted this debt, calling it a “Trojan horse for the corporate takeover of public education.”
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This reliance on international finance, activists argue, imports a profit motive into the public sphere, encouraging the inclusion of private contractors and steering the system toward commercialisation. “Reliance on international finance comes with conditions… such as the inclusion of private contractors in the development process,” AISA emphasised.
A Bipartisan Failure, a Public Burden
The roots of the merger initiative reveal a troubling bipartisan consensus. The idea mirrors a 2020 NEP provision and a proposal by the previous BJP government’s School Reform Commission to merge schools with fewer than ten students. While the Congress opposed it then, and the BJP opposes it now, the policy machinery grinds on regardless.
“Despite formally scrapping the NEP, the Congress government has constantly promoted its provisions through the back door,” AISA asserted. This political hypocrisy leaves students, parents, and teachers as the ultimate casualties, facing a system becoming more centralized and inaccessible by the day.
The Fight for the Future
In response to what they see as a betrayal, AISA and allied organisations have issued a set of non-negotiable demands: the immediate scrapping of the merger proposal; allocation of 25% of the state budget to education; ensuring adequate permanent teaching staff in all government schools; strict regulation of fees in private institutions; and a State Education Policy that mandates universal, accessible education.
The courage and resolve of the students and grassroots organisations fighting this battle are a beacon of hope. They are not merely protesting a policy but defending the fundamental right of every poor child to learn in their own community without the burden of hazardous travel or hidden costs. The Karnataka government must be held accountable for its deception. The future of a generation depends on this struggle, and the voices of condemnation must grow louder until this regressive plan is withdrawn entirely.
