While expressing the need for primary education in Kannada medium, doctor-writer B.M. Hegde has said that Kannada language will improve if there are more number of private schools teaching in Kannada medium.
Inaugurating the district-level Kannada Sahitya Sammelan here on Tuesday, Dr. Hegde said that language was the means for man to express his thoughts.
Elementary education in Kannada medium has easy words, while there are tongue-twister rhymes in English medium education, he said.
“It is an irony that simple elementary education in one’s mother tongue is being ignored,” he said.
Citing his own instance, Dr. Hegde said that till Class 7 he did not know the English Alphabet. His primary education in Kannada, he said, helps him fluently communicate in Kannada, Tulu, Hindi, English, Tamil and Malayalam.
Calling Chairman of Alvas Education Foundation Mohan Alva as a role model in promoting Kannada medium education, Dr. Hegde commended Mr. Alva for annually spending nearly ₹ 5 crore for providing free education to 700 students in Alva’s Kannada Medium School. He said that more private schools giving quality Kannada medium education should come up in the State.
Dr. Hegde urged the Sahitya Parishat to come up with a lexicon of Kannada words for medical terminologies. This lexicon will help in bringing out more medical books in Kannada, he said.
Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Pejawar Mutt, writer Na. D’Souza and president of District Sahitya Parishad Pradeep Kumar Kalkura also spoke.
