The State government has decided to write to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) directing them to ensure that affiliated schools introduce Kannada as the first or second language in accordance with the law. This decision was taken by the Department of Primary and Secondary Education at a meeting with private school managements earlier this week.
The Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015, mandates that all schools in the State teach Kannada either as the first or second language. However, one and half years after it came into effect, CBSE and ICSE schools are yet to fall in line. A majority of the State board schools have complied with the Act.
At the meeting with department officials, managements of private CBSE and ICSE schools defended their decision to not comply with the law on the grounds that they had to teach English and Hindi as the first and second language respectively. “Individual boards cannot disobey the Act brought out by the State government. We will write to the heads of both these bodies on this matter. If schools fail to comply with the Act, we will start withdrawing their No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the coming academic year,” a senior official in the department said. Currently, schools have to pay a penalty of only ₹500 if they have not started teaching Kannada as the first or the second language. While the second language teaches the language in a more detail manner, the third language teaches the basics of the language.
Parents are divided over the issue. While some are keen that their children learn Kannada as a second language, others want them to study Hindi.
M. Srinivasan, president, Managements of Independent CBSE Schools Association, said, “During our meetings last year with the then Primary and Secondary Education Minister in the State, we were told that CBSE and ICSE schools would be allowed to teach Kannada as the third language. Many parents will go to court if we have to compulsorily teach Kannada as the second language.”
Paritosh S., a parent of a Class 1 student, said that many CBSE schools were teaching both Kannada and Hindi as second languages. “This is a huge burden on our children. They are suffering because the State government and the CBSE are not resolving this issue,” he said.
