The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Avoid hasty decision on English'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 26, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Avoid hasty decision on English'

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Kannada Geleyara Balaga has urged the Government not to make a hasty decision on introduction of English from Class I as all problems pertaining to medium of instruction will get solved after the Karnataka High Court clears the petitions before it challenging the Government's Order on the mother tongue issue.

L.S. Seshagiri Rao and M. Chidananda Murthy, writers, told presspersons here on Saturday that the Supreme Court's ruling that "primary education from Class I to IV shall be in the mother tongue of the children has acquired finality. Even during the British rule, the study of English language commenced from Class V only," they said.

Following the Gokak movement, the State Government issued an order that every child must learn Kannada from the primary level, irrespective of the mother tongue of the children. The constitutional validity of the order was challenged in the Karnataka High Court by the linguistic minorities.

A full Bench of the High Court observed that "primary education from Class I to IV should be only in the mother tongue of the child concerned. This is in conformity with Article 350 A of the Constitution, which makes it obligatory for the State to impart primary education in the mother tongue. In respect of children who from childhood pick up Kannada language in addition to their mother tongue, they shall have the choice to have primary education either in the mother tongue or in Kannada language.

"As English is not the mother tongue of any one, there is no right to demand that primary education shall be in English."

Another order

Following this ruling, the Government issued another order on June 19, 1989 emphasising that primary education shall be in the mother tongue of the child. But an association identified as English Medium Students Parents Association challenged the order in the Supreme Court. In 1994, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court order and dismissed the petition. Then, the Government passed an order in conformity with the apex court's judgement.

Some of the private school managements again approached the High Court to get the implementation of the 1994 order deferred.

Even as the matter was pending before the full Bench of the High Court a single judge Bench directed the Government, in the Sahyadri Educational Society's case, to accord permission to impart education in English. Following this, similar orders were passed on many writ petitions.

Then the Government approached the Supreme Court. On September 9, 1999, the Supreme Court observed that as the question had already been decided by it and a new order had been issued by the Government the appeal had become unnecessary, Prof. Rao and Prof. Chidananda Murthy explained.

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