The State’s “indirect” attempt to prevent permission to start English-medium primary schools has received a setback with the High Court of Karnataka directing the government to receive application from a private educational institution in this regard.
Justice A.S. Bopanna passed the interim order on a petition filed by Modern Education Society, Ejipura, Bengaluru. The society had questioned the State government’s November 11 notification, which “indirectly” made an attempt to permit only private Kannada-medium primary schools from classes 1 to 5 for 2015-16.
G.R. Mohan, counsel for the petitioner-society, had contended that the government had adopted an “indirect” way to “frustrate” the Supreme Court’s verdict of May this year, in which the government’s 1994 language policy of the State was declared “unconstitutional”.
The language policy had made it mandatory for all schools in the State to impart education only in mother tongue or Kannada from classes 1 to 5.
Meanwhile, in response to the High Court’s notice, it was submitted on behalf of the government that the Education Department did not include the receipt of application for classes 1 to 5 for English-medium schools due to a decision taken by the State Cabinet to file a Curative Petition before the Supreme Court seeking relook into the verdict on its language policy.
However, Justice Bopanna observed that “…at present the decision rendered by the Supreme Court would permit the choice of the language to the parents,” while directing the authorities to receive application filed by the society seeking permission to start English-medium schools for classes 1 to 5 with a similar fee as has been fixed in respect of the Kannada-medium schools.
