The lack of pre-primary classes in government schools is seen as one of the main reasons why parents opt for private schools, among a host of other reasons.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN
The State government has issued an order to start Early Child Care Education (ECCE), pre-primary classes of LKG and UKG, in 4,056 government schools across the State in 2025-26.
The classes will likely begin in the academic year 2026-27.
The lack of pre-primary classes in government schools is seen as one of the main reasons why parents opt for private schools, among a host of other reasons. To correct this, the State government has begun a programme to start ECCE classes in government schools.
The government currently runs pre-primary classes in 2,619 schools, started between 2018-19 and 2024-25. Further, the State Budget 2025-26 announced that the government would further start pre-primary classes in 5,000 more government schools in this financial year at an estimated cost of ₹70 crore.
Implementing this Budget proposal, the State government on November 14, 2025, issued an order to start new ECCE classes in 4,056 government schools and released a list of the same. Of these, the ECCE classes will be started in 1,105 schools under the Samagra Shikshana Karnataka scheme, in 126 PM Shri schools, in 1,126 schools by the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) and 1,699 Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) magnet schools.
Apart from the KPSs, which are scheduled to begin from 2026-27, where dedicated classrooms will be built for the same, in other schools, the ECCE classes will be conducted in anganwadis located on the school premises. A minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40 students in the age group of four to five will be enrolled in each of these schools, the Department of School Education and Literacy said.
Permission has been given to appoint one teacher and one helper for each pre-primary class. These classes will be conducted in a bilingual medium in both English and Kannada.
The government has said mid-day meal, hot milk, and supplementary nutritious food, including egg and banana, will be distributed as per the nutritional values of mid-day meal fixed by the Union government to pre-primary children.
Published – December 18, 2025 07:03 pm IST
