Even though the curative petition filed by the State government pertaining to the 1994 language policy was quashed by Supreme Court recently, the State government has not given up. It plans to introduce bills in the ongoing legislature session to make mother tongue the medium of instruction.
Amendment to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and the Kannada Language Learning Bill, 2015, which would make Kannada compulsory as the first or second language in all State board schools, would be passed in the Assembly, Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar told presspersons here on Tuesday.
He also said that they would meet Members of Parliament to emphasise their viewpoint.
English-medium
After chairing a two-hour long meeting with a small group of writers and scholars, he said: “Each application (to register English medium schools) would be judged on the basis of merit. We will follow the directions of the Supreme Court and the High Court.”
He said that while the government would process applications for the new schools, the department would announce if permission was granted only by April or May.
The former Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Chandrashekar Patil said that the efforts to make mother tongue the medium of instruction had become a movement, and said that the State government’s efforts would not only protect Kannada but various other languages.
Government plans
to amend laws
