Department of Public Instruction here does not look ready for introducing Tulu as a third optional language for Class VI from this year, although primary schools re-opened a fortnight ago.
The department is unaware whether the Government has approved the syllabi of the book or not. While the textbook is not yet ready, the department is not clear on who should teach Tulu language. Meanwhile, members of the textbook committee set up by Government are scheduled to meet at Puttur on June 15. A Government Order on teaching Tulu as the third optional language from this academic year was issued on March 26.
C. Chame Gowda, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Dakshina Kannada, told The Hindu that he was not sure whether the textbook was ready or not.
To a question, he said he had sought reports from block education officers (BEOs) on the number of students who had opted for Tulu as the third language, after the schools reopened. The Government had not sent any guidelines regarding the qualifications of Tulu teachers, he said.
President of the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy Palthady Ramakrishna Achar said that the draft syllabi had been prepared at a meeting in Puttur on May 14. The meeting had been convened by the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT).
Mr. Achar said that members of the textbook committee and advisory committee would meet again at Puttur on June 15 to write the textbook. The DSERT authorities had conveyed that their representatives would be there too. The draft textbook would be ready before June 30, he said.
