RTE Act to be amended to make Kannada medium of instruction

Govt. to make its stand known to High Court by March 31

The State Cabinet on Thursday decided to stand firm on its decision to make Kannada the compulsory medium of instruction in primary education (from class one to class five).

To make provision for imparting primary education in the mother tongue (Kannada) till class five, the Cabinet decided to drop the phrase “as far as practicable” in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The Act is in the Concurrent List and the State has powers to amend it as per its requirement.

The amendment made to the Act will have to be approved either by the Governor or the President.

“We are exercising our rights as legislators to make law. Let us see what will happen later,” a Minister said.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment last year, struck down a State government’s order imposing Kannada as the medium of instruction in all primary schools in the State.

A Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court said that imposing the mother tongue as the medium of instruction violated the fundamental rights. A petition has been filed against the government in the High Court for not following the Supreme Court’s directives. With this proposed legislation, the government will make its stand known to the High Court by March 31, sources said.

A total of 1,774 applications are pending before the government seeking permission to open new English-medium schools.

Teacher transfers

The Cabinet has fixed the ceiling on teacher transfers at 8 per cent of the total number of teachers against 5 per cent last year. Transfers on mutual consent and transfer of couples would be permitted during the transfer season.