BANGALORE: The Karnataka Unaided School Management Federation has urged the Government to implement the Rajappa Dalavai Committee recommendations on introducing uniform language in schools.

It has also made a plea to the Government to reconsider its decision to close down the schools that have violated the State's language policy.

Sri Dattanandapuri Swamiji of Kaginele Mahasansthana, Makbul Ahmed of Central Muslim Association of Karnataka and Rev. Victor Paul told presspersons here on Wednesday that the federation would stage a dharna in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi to draw the attention of the Government towards its demands.

They said that many existing policies of the State, including the language policy, were ambiguous. Such policies would be detrimental to the interests of Dalits, backward classes and minorities.

Referring to the Baragur Ramachadrappa and the Chandrashekhar Patil reports on the need to enforce a uniform language policy, they asked why the Government had "pretended to be blind" over the issue.

If the Government was keen on the development of Kannada it should impart uniform education. In that context, the Government's decision to introduce English from first standard was welcoming.

But was it possible for the children of labourers and the poor who study English just as a language and another five subjects in Kannada, to compete with others who study Kannada as a language and the other five subjects in English, they asked.

The Government should review its decision to order the closure of schools that had violated its language policy. It should realise that majority of schools that were facing the closure threat were located on the outskirts of the Bangalore where a majority of Dalits, backward classes and minorities lived.

The Government's decision would affect over 2,500 schools and the future of lakhs of students studying in those schools, they said.

They pleaded that the Government should defer its decision until the case pertaining to the language policy pending before the Karnataka High court was decided.

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