Education in Karnataka
Education in Karnataka (short, easy to understand version)
- Institutions and leadership
- Karnataka is home to top institutes such as IISc, IIT Dharwad, IIM, NITK, IIIT Dharwad, IIIT Bangalore, VTU, and National Law School of India University.
- A Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology (VIAT) is being built in Muddenahalli.
- The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education oversees schools in the state, with the Department of Public Instruction handling the state syllabus. The current minister is B. C. Nagesh.
- How many people and schools (basic stats)
- Literacy rate (2011): 75.36% overall (males 82.47%, females 68.08%).
- Primary and secondary schools and students: tens of thousands of schools and millions of students have attended over the years.
- Schools are government, aided (government-funded), or unaided private schools. Medium of instruction is mainly English or Kannada.
- Common syllabuses: CBSE, ICSE, NIOS, or the Karnataka state syllabus. Core subjects include science, social studies, mathematics, and languages.
- Getting food and attendance
- A midday meal scheme provides free lunch in government and aided schools to help students attend regularly.
- From secondary to higher secondary and beyond
- After Class 10, students take the SSLC/SSC exam.
- For Class 11 and 12, students can join a Junior College and study in Science, Commerce, or Arts, or choose diploma courses.
- After finishing secondary education, students move on to higher education in universities, through regular or lateral entry.
- Higher education in Karnataka
- There are about 481 degree colleges under state universities such as Bangalore University, Kuvempu University, Mysore University, Mangalore University, Gulbarga University, and Karnatak University.
- Deemed universities include institutions like Christ University and Manipal University.
- Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) oversees engineering colleges; Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences oversees medical colleges.
- There are 123 engineering colleges, 35 medical colleges, and 40 dental colleges.
- Agriculture universities include University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad, Bangalore, Raichur, and Shimoga, plus the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University in Bidar.
- Other universities include Kannada University, Karnataka State Open University, and Karnataka State Women’s University.
- The first engineering college in Karnataka, UVCE in Bengaluru, was started in 1917 by Sir M. Visvesvaraya and was the fifth engineering college in India. By 1956 Karnataka had two government and three private engineering colleges.
- Notable recent issue
- In 2022, a hijab-related controversy led to a ban on wearing hijabs in some higher secondary institutions, drawing accusations that it restricted girls’ education.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:45 (CET).