Hospete: In a scathing review, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed outrage over the Vijayanagar district’s plummeting education ranking in the Human Development Index (HDI) during a meeting on Friday.
The CM was chairing the newly carved district’s KDP meeting. During the meeting, the DDPI (District Deputy Director of Public Instruction), the official responsible for education in the district, was placed at the center of the criticism.
The CM was particularly upset about the district’s fall from 10th position to 27th in the HDI’s education ranking. He reportedly questioned the DDPI’s performance and held them accountable for the decline.
The CM further pointed out a decrease in the current year’s SSLC performance compared to the previous year, implying a lack of effort from the DDPI’s office, including Block Education Officers (BEOs) and teachers.
The CM’s anger reached a peak when he learned that despite offering a 20% grace marks for students, the educational standards had dropped so significantly. He questioned the DDPI’s overall performance and whether they were satisfied with the results.
The CM even asked if the DDPI felt any shame over the district’s educational regression.
The situation escalated further when Siddaramaiah directly contacted the Education Department Secretary during the meeting. The CM expressed dissatisfaction with the district’s performance and demanded immediate suspension of both the DDPI and BEOs. He advised issuing a notice to the CEO and urged them to develop a serious plan to improve the district’s educational standing.
The seriousness of the situation was further highlighted when the minister-in-charge, Zameer Ahmed, asked the DDPI to leave the meeting immediately.