Education in Shimoga district is in quite a developed state. There are many educational institutions found here that cater to the various educational needs of the district. Each habitation with a population of 200 or more has a primary school. There are Higher Primary Schools, High Schools and Junior Colleges which are easily accessible to rural areas also. Each Taluk Headquarter has a Degree College. For the purposes of Higher Education, there is found an Engineering College, a Dental College as well as a Polytechnic. Higher education is also accessible from the rural areas. A University centre is also found located here in the Shimoga district.
There are 1106 Lower Primary Schools and 1185 Higher Primary Schools in the District of which 998 Government Lower Primary Schools and 940 Government Higher Primary Schools. Only 3 Aided Lower Primary Schools and 53 Aided Higher Primary Schools are there in the District. 90 percent of the Lower Primary Schools are Government Schools. Only 0.3 percent is Aided Lower Primary Schools and 9.7 percent are Unaided Lower Primary Schools. Among Higher Primary Schools, 79 percent are Government Schools, 4.47 percent are Aided Higher Primary Schools and 16.53 percent are Unaided Higher Primary Schools. The Government has opened many schools in the District and extended support for private managements to run Primary Schools.
Among the major universities found in the district are the Kuvempu University, the Post-Graduate centre at Davanagere and the post-Graduate Centre at Kadur. Kuvempu University is a young affiliating University in Karnataka. Established in 1987, it is a University with a distinctive academic profile, offering 45 Post-Graduate Programmes, 4 P.G. Diploma and one under-Graduate programme. The University has 184 affiliated colleges, five constituent colleges, five B.P.Ed colleges, six Law colleges and 43 B.Ed. colleges under its jurisdiction spread over 4 districts of Shimoga, Chitradurga district, Chikmagalur district and Davanagere district. It also has outlying regional Post-Graduate centres at Davanagere and Kadur. The Post-Graduate departments of studies in Commerce, Economics, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Food and Nurtrition Technology and Master of Social Work are located at Shivagangothri campus of Post-Graduate centre at Davangere. The Institute of Management Studies is located in a new building at Shivagangothri. A new post graduate centre has been opened at Kadur from 2007-08, starting with three initial courses of Master of Business Economics(MBE), Master of Business Administration(MBA) and M.Sc. Pharmaceutical Chemistry.
Among the constituent colleges of the Kuvempu university are the Sahyadri Arts and Commerce College, Shimoga Sahyadri Arts and Science Colleges and Sahyadri Science College, erstwhile Government institutions. These premiere Colleges of this region have completed 66 years of existence. Other Colleges in the district are the University B.D.T. College of Engineering at Davanagere, University Fine Arts College at Davanagere and the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering (JNNCE).
Education in Shimoga district is therefore a well-systematised process that aims at being accessible to all.
