Trouble is brewing for at least 20 schools in Bengaluru as the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) plans to report them to the State government seeking the cancellation of their No Objection Certificates on the grounds that they are not teaching Kannada.
As per the Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015, schools are mandated to teach Kannada as the first or the second language. However, several city schools continue to drag their feet over this.
A list of erring schools was submitted by the officials of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to the KDA after it had sought a report.
DPI officials said that although the names of only 20 schools has been given to the KDA, there could be more. “There are several more schools that have not started teaching Kannada. We want parents to inform us so that we can conduct surprise inspections based on the information they provide,” said an official.
S.G. Siddaramaiah, Chairman, KDA said that these 20 schools included those from the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Kendriya Vidyalayas. “The Education Department authorities are being extremely irresponsible and callous in implementing the law. So we will write to the State government,” Prof. Siddaramaiah said.
The KDA had also conducted a review meeting recently with the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPI) and the Block Education Officers (BEO) to review the reports.
The rules for the Act were finalised on October 21, 2017 and were to be implemented for the 2017-2018 academic year itself. Schools who violate the norms will be penalised with a fine of up to ₹500.
The rules also state that if the offence is a continuing one, schools will have to pay a daily fine “not exceeding ₹100 during the period of contravention of the Act or the rules.”
