After students’ organisations and the Kannada Development Authority took up the issue of including Kannada as one of the mediums for the Joint Entrance Examination (Main), the State government has assured to pursue the matter with the Union government.
Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi said: “The State government will look into the matter and I will discuss this with my Principal Secretary.”
Meanwhile, the Kannada Development Authority wrote to Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar to include Kannada, apart from all other regional languages, to uphold the very spirit of the Constitution. “Any delay in early decision on this might flare-up the sentiments of all States,” said S.G. Siddaramaiah, KDA chairman, in his letter.
On Monday, The Hindu had reported about students’ organisations and the KDA being disappointed after students were given the option to appear for the exam only in English, Hindi and Gujarati. They said that the Centre had discriminated against south Indian languages.
The organisations had said that having Kannada as an option would help several rural students.
JEE is a gateway for admissions to IITs, NITs and other Centrally-funded technical institutions. The last date to apply for the exam is January 1 and students have to specify their medium in the application form.
