In a powerful act of defiance against the national assault on public education, the AIDSO, Karnataka, spearheaded a monumental campaign titled ‘‘Save and Strengthen Government Schools,” in a direct and overwhelming response to the State Government’s decision to close down and merge 6,200 government schools, a move seen as a grave threat to the future of children from underprivileged backgrounds.
The campaign’s success was rooted in a simple but profound idea: To give a voice to the people who would be most affected by these policies.
Over several weeks, the movement transformed from a targeted protest into a statewide mobilization of historic proportions. Fifty thousand volunteers—a diverse mix of students, teachers, parents, workers, and youth—fanned out across every district, town, and remote village. They did not just collect signatures; they connected with people on a human level, sharing the predicament of students who would be forced to walk miles to the nearest school and highlighting the desperate need for basic amenities like clean water and repaired classrooms.
Around 50 lakh signatures were submitted to the Director of the Primary Education Department after a huge gathering on 21 August at Freedom Park in Bangalore which was addressed, among others, by Prof. A. Murigeppa, the former Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University, Comrades Shibasis Praharaj, Secretary, AIDSO, and Ajay Kamath, Karnatak State Secretary, AIDSO.
