The Karnataka Government and the Azim Premji Foundation today entered into an agreement for a tie-up in elementary education space in order to improve quality and equity in government school system with special focus on eight disadvantaged districts in the North East region of the state.

Speaking here, the Primary and Higher Education Pincipal Secretary Kumar G Naik said under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the foundation would build on its work of more than ten years in Karnataka by enlarging it further in the domains of education leadership and management, teacher education and in enhancing community’s role in school education.

Out of a total overall budget of about Rs 27 crore earmarked for various programmes, the government (SISLEP & SSA) and Foundation will both contribute substantial portion and the balance will be funded by UNICEF, he said.

The Foundation will establish field level institutes at state and district levels to work at the ground level in realising the goals of the MoU, Naik said.

The Foundation will setup model demonstration cum training schools in each of the eight districts to demonstrate that high-quality education is possible within the same constraints that government schools work under, he said.

Based on the ground circumstances, several constituent colleges of Azim Premji University, which could offer high quality graduate, post-graduate and other programmes in education and development will be established, Naik said.

The government will ensure adequate funding and budget clearances in the Annual Work Plans for all the joint initiatives and activities for timely and effective execution of programmes, Naik said.

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