Karnataka’s Namma Shale application highlights infrastructure problems in 1,300 government schools across the state
The citizen-based portal received reports of non-functioning toilets, lack of clean drinking water, collapsed ceiling in classrooms, broken windows and more in 1,300 government schools across the state. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Namma Shale, an online platform for citizens, received reports of 1,300 schools in 30 districts in Karnataka regarding the poor condition of government schools. It includes broken toilets, lack of clean drinking water, collapsed ceiling or walls in classrooms, broken windows and doors and more.
Dhruv Jatti, founder of Namma Shale said, “We launched the platform on August 27, 2026 and have geo-tagged all 47,000 government schools in the state. Anyone can go to NammaShale.in, upload pictures and explain the problems in government schools in their respective districts, taluks and villages.”
To make it easier for people to report issues, Mr. Jatti and his team have ensured that no login details are required. He explained: “There is only one condition for uploading school details. The person reporting the school’s infrastructure issues must be present within 600m of the school premises. The aim is to prevent fake or fake photos from being uploaded to the website. The main users of our platform are teachers, principals and parents in Tier 2 and 3 cities. The identity of the reporting person is verified by our backend if the reporting users are truly anonymous.”
When a message is verified, it enters the public map in the “Pending” state. If an issue remains unresolved after 30 days, its visual status is automatically escalated to “Overdue” to ensure transparent public visibility.
The Namma Shale team is now preparing a list of 50 schools that are in critical condition and require immediate attention. “We will partner with a private real estate company that is ready to improve school infrastructure through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds,” Mr. Jatti said.
He also noted that the platform is free for either the government or those who want to report issues, but will help companies contact the government for investment through CSR. “Companies can actually register with Namma Shale and choose the schools they want to spend their funds on,” he said.
So far Bagalkot district has the highest number of schools which is 700 followed by Ballari and other districts.
He said, “The highest number of schools reported in Bagalkot does not mean that only this district has problems. But it is because of more awareness among people, teachers and students to report problems. We are also working with teachers in other districts to report problems.”
When asked about infrastructural issues in government schools across Karnataka, a senior official from the Department of School Education and Literacy said, “Whenever infrastructural issues come to our attention, we make sure to address them. Besides, we have our own Praja Seve-Integrated Public Grievance Redressing System (iPGRS) where citizens can report grievances of government schools. The government also has funds to improve the school’s C1000 portal.”
TN will bring Namma Shaale
Tamil Nadu is reportedly interested in using the Namma Shaale platform to improve infrastructure in the state’s government schools. Recently, Mr. Jatti and his team met J. Innocent Divya Thomas, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Education Department. “Their response has been positive. They are eager to use the platform in Tamil Nadu to improve the state of government schools, access to education and more,” he said.
Published – 12 October 2026 20:45 IST