Bengaluru: Karnataka's Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced that Bangalore City University will be renamed after former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
This announcement was made while presenting the budget for the financial year 2025-26. To make this a model university in the country, Government Arts College and Government R.C. College will be made constituent colleges of this university.
Karnataka's school nutrition program, which provides eggs or bananas to 53 lakh students twice a week, has been expanded to six days a week. This initiative, supported by the Azim Premji Foundation at a cost of Rs 1500 crore, aims to combat malnutrition among school children and will continue in 2025-26.
The Karnataka government is expanding its school nutrition program in partnership with Shri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust. Currently, the trust provides Sai Sure Ragi Health Mix powder mixed with hot milk to schoolchildren three days a week. This initiative will be extended to five days a week, with a total cost of Rs 100 crore. The state government will bear 25% of the project cost.
Karnataka Public Schools are set to undergo a major expansion, with 500 new schools to be established at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore, aided by the Asian Development Bank. This initiative aims to provide quality education from pre-primary to PU levels under one roof.
Additionally, the monthly honorarium for cooks working in government schools will be increased by Rs 1,000.
The 'Kalika Deepa' program, an AI-driven initiative in partnership with the Ek-Step Foundation, will be scaled up to 2,000 schools. This program aims to enhance students' proficiency in Kannada and English languages while also developing their mathematical skills.
The “Vidya Vijeta” program to provide CET/NEET/JEE training to 25,000 students of government pre-university colleges has already been implemented. Rs 5 crore will be provided in the current year to continue this program. Bilingual sections will be started in 4,000 government schools in the state to enhance students’ fluency in the English language as well as in their mother tongue," he stated.
Under the initiative to strengthen women’s higher education institutions, action has been taken to upgrade 31 such institutions during the last year. Infrastructure in the remaining 26 institutions will be upgraded for Rs 26 crore, the CM said.
Karnataka will introduce a pioneering policy focused on preventing and treating burn injuries among women. This will be a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, he stated.
(inputs from IANS)