The Kannada Development Authority presents the report to School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa in Bengaluru on Tuesday. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has appealed to the state government to continue the multi-grade ‘Nali-Kali’ curriculum with necessary modifications, saying it helps unleash the creativity hidden in children.
The KDA, which submitted a report on the implementation of the program to Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa on Tuesday, alleged that the program failed due to poor implementation.
“Even after 30 years of implementing the Nali-Kali program, teachers have not been able to adopt it properly. As a result, teachers have expressed their disapproval of Nali-Kali and parents don’t like it either. Nali-Kali can only be successful if teachers take responsibility for identifying a child’s learning style. Teachers should provide them with appropriate tools and techniques to enhance children’s learning experiences.”
Key findings
“The teachers failed to make creative use of one 80-minute period of the Nali-Kali project. When the trained teachers retired, the guest teachers appointed in their place did not achieve the expected results because they did not receive proper training. The age, learning level and learning ability of the children from first to third grade are not the same. In such a situation, the teachers failed to form groups and conduct language education to make this multi-class teaching meaningful.
“In classes with a large number of students, teachers are not able to give equal attention to all children. Learning materials (stickers, picture lists, charts, etc.) needed for meaningful instruction have not been sufficiently supplied to many schools. Children who studied under Nali-Kali up to grade 3 find it difficult to adapt to a different system in grade 4,” it said.
Speaking to The Hindu, KDA president Purushothama Bilimale said, “There have been allegations that because of the Nali-Kali project and the Kannada medium, parents are hesitating to admit their children to government schools and have turned to private schools. In this context, it has been decided to conduct a study on the scheme. The information has been submitted to parents, teachers, ministers and other participating schools across the state.”
However, the state government has decided to phase out the Nali-Kali program in primary education and convert multi-grade teaching to single grade teaching.
Published – 10 Feb 2026 22:13 IST