Free education for Karnataka girls up to post-graduation

Bengaluru Feb 16 (IANS) In a bid to encourage girl child education Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced that all girls studying in government institutions up to post-graduation will be given free education.

"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 " Siddaramaiah who also holds the finance portfolio said while presenting the Budget for 2018-19.

The provision of free education up to post-graduation is is expected to benefit 3.7 lakh girl students in the state.

In 2017 the state government had announced free education for girls from class 1 till graduation in government schools and government aided-private schools from 2018-19 academic year.

"A total of Rs 4 514 crore is being provided for higher education in 2018-19 " Siddaramaiah said presenting his 13th state budget.

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

The Chief Minister has earmarked Rs 22 350 crore in the 2018-19 Budget for primary and secondary education.

To ensure safety of the children at government primary and secondary schools CCTV cameras will be installed in the upcoming fiscal 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."

Siddaramaiah also announced free bus passes to students from schools and colleges across the state from 2018-19 benefiting 19.6 lakh students.

--IANS
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