The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Schools fall in line with High Court order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 19, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Schools fall in line with High Court order

B.S. Ramesh

1,000 schools opt for voluntary scheme

37 schools filed affidavits on Wednesday
Schools which failed to file affidavits to face action

BANGALORE: A majority of the 2,215 primary schools that were accused of having violated the State’s policy on the medium of instruction and found teaching in English, have either filed affidavits in the High Court undertaking to impart education in Kannada or the medium of instruction in which they had been granted recognition or opted for the voluntary scheme formulated by the Government.

While over 1,000 schools have opted for the scheme, hundreds of other institutions have filed affidavits before the High Court undertaking to impart education in the medium in which they had been granted recognition.

The High Court extended time up to July 18 for the errant schools to fall in line and file affidavits. Although today was the last day, the expected rush of educational institutions to file affidavits before the court did not materialise as only 37 schools coming under the umbrella of Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA) filed affidavits before the Registry.

These petitions are likely to come up for hearing shortly. Since they have filed affidavits before the deadline, they would be entitled to the benefit of the interim order passed by a Division Bench staying the orders of derecognition if the institutions filed affidavits undertaking not to violate the policy on the medium of instruction.

Advocate for KUSMA G.R. Mohan told The Hindu on Wednesday that of the 1,011 members, 372 schools were started prior to 1994 and, hence, there was no question of them violating the medium of instruction. He said the policy of grantin g permission to schools to teach in Kannada came into force only in 1994 and it was these schools that had violated the undertaking.

He said so far 158 schools had filed affidavits in the High Court while scores of schools had filed undertaking before the jurisdictional Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) and opted for the scheme. He accused the authorities of arm twisting the primary schools into either taking the scheme or filing affidavits.

Advocate for Karnataka Unaided Minority Schools Association (KUMSA) Vivek Reddy said all members had filed affidavits undertaking to impart education in the medium in which they had been granted recognition. Citing the T.M.A. Pai and P.A. Inamdar cases of the Supreme Court, he said the State had no right to restrict the freedom of minority institutions. He said the affidavits were filed as the members did not want to enter into a confrontation with the Government when the academic year had already commenced.

Advocate for the Karnataka Unaided Schools Federation D.L. Jagadeesh said many schools wanted to approach the Government and seek extension of time for the schools to continue teaching in English this year too. He said the High Court had said it would not come in the way if the schools wanted to engage in a dialogue with the Government over the issue.

Other advocates pointed out that a majority of the schools found teaching in English were concentrated in and around Bangalore, Mysore, Tumkur and other districts. They said it would be a farce if students in these areas were taught in Kannada and deprived of being educated in English. Government advocate B. Manohar said many schools deliberately confused the issue.

He said the State had never said the schools would have to teach only in Kannada. All the schools would have to do is to stick to the undertaking they had given when starting the school. If the schools had given an undertaking to teach in Kannada, they had no option but to teach in that language only, he said.

First language

He said apart from Kannada, the State had recognised seven other languages, including English, to be first language. If any school had obtained recognition in English they could teach in that language, he said. He said schools which failed to either give an undertaking or file affidavits would now be liable to face criminal action as per the provisions of the Education Act. He said education Department officials had confirmed that almost all but a handful of 2,215 schools had fallen in line.

Meanwhile, several advocates said rumours about the extension of the deadline by the High Court from July 18 to July 25 had led to several schools asking if the affidavits could be filed on Thursday and on subsequent days.

In a related development, 13 primary schools which filed affidavits before Justice Mohan Shantangouder undertaking to teach in the medium in which they had been grated recognition got the benefit of the Division Bench order.

The Bench had stayed the order of derecognition and also stayed the payment of administrative charges.

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