Karnataka students lived in a cowshed for 5 years, shifted after videos went viral

A couple of days after videos went viral showing students of a state-run residential school in Karnataka living in a cowshed, the students were shifted to two different hostels on Monday. The institute in question, Dr BR Ambedkar Residential School in Shantigrama, Hassan district, is run by the Social Welfare Department of the state government for students hailing from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other disadvantaged communities.

It has also emerged that the residential school, which houses 92 boys and 80 girls studying in Classes 6 to 10, was being run from the cowshed for nearly five years at a monthly rent of Rs 1.08 lakh. Meanwhile, Hassan District in-Charge Minister KM Shivalingegowda rebuked Social Welfare Department Deputy Director Dood Peer for the lapse during the Praja Seva program on Sunday.

“Are students sheep to be herded? Can’t you provide a better place for students if the building was being constructed? Will you send your children to the same residential school? The students must be shifted immediately and let the construction be completed,” he said.

Karnataka Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka slammed the Congress government over the school’s condition. “The Congress government boasts that it helps those from poor and marginalised backgrounds, but it has not only denied basic facilities but was paying a monthly rent of Rs 1.08 lakh.

They need to tell where the money was actually going.”