40,000 Karnataka schools to be closed: AIDSO calls government’s KPS-Magnet scheme a 'cruel conspiracy'

In a major allegation levelled against the Karnataka government, the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) said that the state is moving towards the merger of government schools under the KPS-Magnet scheme despite repeated public assurances that no school in the state will be closed.

Recently, the Karnataka government has been reiterating a single statement – "Not a single school in the state will be closed.” To examine the "truth" of this statement, the AIDSO Karnataka State Committee checked the government documents and “presented the facts” in a press conference held on Wednesday.

The government plans to establish 6,000 KPS-Magnet schools – one in every gram panchayat – and the surrounding schools would be merged into them.

In the first phase, 800 government schools in the state have been identified as Karnataka Public Schools – 100 in mining-affected districts, 200 in Kalyana Karnataka districts, and 500 in other areas, according to an official circular dated October 15, 2025.

“Under the guise of the KPS Magnet Scheme, the Government of Karnataka is moving to close more than 40,000 government schools,” the AIDSO said.

474 schools identified for merger

A district-level order dated October 23, 2025, identified the Government Higher Primary School in Honganooru to be developed as a KPS-Magnet school in the pilot phase.

It ordered the merger of seven nearby schools within a 7-kilometer radius – Hodike Hosahalli (77 students), Kanni Doddi (82), Ammalli Doddi (31), Santemogehalli (100), Mogehalli Doddi (20), Sunnaghatta (80), and Kallahalli Doddi (2).

Separately, a list of 474 government schools has been identified for merger across districts under the initiative, a state-level document accessed by Careers360 stated. The document contains school names, UDISE codes, and locations but does not mention closure or the total number of schools to be merged statewide.

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Villagers oppose 'school closure'

Villagers from the surrounding areas, where the school merger has been announced, are protesting, demanding that the schools should not be closed for any reason, and that they must be developed to ensure quality education for their children.

"Similarly, more than 40,000 schools across the state will be merged under the KPS Magnet Scheme. The school, which belongs to the community and the village, will move across the village limits to the next town," the organisation said.

AIDSO alleged that the state government is making amendments “to compel” lecturers working in government pre-university colleges to teach high school students. Not only schools, but thousands of PUC colleges are also facing the threat of closure, it claimed.

The government’s clarification that "not a single school will be closed" and the statements made by the state minister for school education and literacy, "are far from the truth", it said.

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AIDSO calls KPS-Magnet a 'cruel conspiracy'

Calling it a "cruel conspiracy" of the Karnataka government to permanently snatch education from poor children in the name of development, the AIDSO claimed that "a complete list has already been prepared detailing which school in every district of the state should be made a Magnet School and which schools should be merged into it".

"AIDSO has exposed the dark reality of the KPS-Magnet Scheme by placing the complete list of the 40,000 government schools that are closing down before the people of the state! The question the people of the state are asking now is: What is the government's answer?" it said.

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Group questions Karnataka school initiative

In another serious allegation, the group said that the government is planning to use the school buildings that are being closed under the guise of merger for other purposes, and a Bill regarding this will be issued in the Belagavi session.

Quoting Karnataka school education and literacy minister Madhu Bangarappa, who in an interview said government school buildings would be handed over to self-help groups.

“If not a single school is being closed, then where does the question of allocating government school buildings for other purposes arise?” AIDSO Karnataka state president Ashwini KS and state secretary Ajay Kamath asked.