Pressure builds to have Kannada medium for JEE (Main)

The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) and other organisations have taken up the cudgels on behalf of students from the State sitting for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main and criticised the Centre for not offering them the choice of writing it in Kannada.

JEE is a gateway for admissions to IITs, NITs and other Centrally-funded technical institutions. An information bulletin recently put out by the Central Board of Secondary Education states that students can appear for JEE (Main) 2018 in three mediums — English, Hindi, and Gujarati. The option of writing the paper in Gujarati is restricted to students from centres in Gujarat, Daman & Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

KDA chairman S.G. Siddaramaiah said it was “unacceptable” and “discriminatory” on part of the Union government to ignore all South Indian languages. “Allowing students to take the exam in Gujarati is an election gimmick as Gujarat is set to go to the polls shortly,” he said, adding that he would speak to Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on this issue.

The offline JEE (Main) 2018 is scheduled to be held on April 8 , while the computer-based test is scheduled for April 15 and 16. Students who qualify after JEE (Main) are eligible to write JEE (Advanced). Students are expected to enter the medium in their application forms and submit them by January 1.

Jawaid Akhtar, Principal Secretary, Department of Higher Education, said he would look into the matter. The KDA has decided to write to the Centre on the issue and demand that Kannada be one of the options offered.

A similar debate took place over the inclusion of Kannada for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test in December 2016. Initially, the candidates had the option of writing the test in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and Assamese, apart from Hindi and English. The Union government eventually relented and included Kannada as a medium.

Student organisations upset about the issue plan to approach the State government to write to the Centre. “It is a huge blow to students who have studied in vernacular languages. Students from rural areas will be able ace the exam if they are given the opportunity to write in Kannada. At present, they are at a disadvantage,” said Ravinandan B.B., vice-president, All-India Democratic Students’ Organisation.