Students of II pre-university (PU) can heave a sigh of relief as they will be given a bilingual paper for the examination scheduled in March 2018.
The State government has decided to scrap its September order where it asked students to pick one language — English or Kannada — as the medium of instruction and write the examination in that language. Later that month, the department decided to modify the order partially and relax this for four subjects — accountancy, statistics, basic maths and computer science.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait said on Friday that the government has decided to revert to the earlier practice of bilingual paper based on representations received by students and lecturers before the preparatory exams. An official order is likely to be issued shortly.
Students welcome move
This has brought respite to students. Shilpa S., a II PU student, said this would be helpful for students as the order was issued midway into the academic year. “We were not prepared for the move. Implementing this for students who are currently in the first year is probably a better idea,” she said.
Over the past few years, many students, irrespective of which language they had registered for, would write answers in English as well as Kannada. Lecturers say that the practice is likely to continue this year as well.
But not everyone is happy. The principal of a Bengaluru-based PU college said he was disappointed that the order was withdrawn. “It is important for students to pick one medium and stick to it. Having one medium would also ensure that there would be no erratic evaluation as the answer paper of a Kannada medium student would go to a lecturer proficient in Kannada and similarly for English. Now, if students break into another language, there are chances that the evaluator may not know the language,” he said.
