The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Language policy: hearing adjourned till September 12

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Language policy: hearing adjourned till September 12

Staff Reporter

There have been 70 petitions challenging the policy

Petitioners want court to give them the benefit of the July 2, 2008 Full Bench judgment
An SLP by the State against the Full Bench verdict is pending appeal in Supreme Court

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Monday adjourned till September 12 hearing on more than 70 petitions by schools and educational institutions challenging the language policy of the State.

The petitioners had urged the court to gave them the benefit of the July 2, 2008 Full Bench judgment of the Karnataka High Court which had quashed clauses of the Government Order of 1994 making it compulsory for primary schools to follow the State policy on the medium of instruction.

The State, at the time of granting permission to primary schools to operate, had asked the institutions to given an undertaking that they would only impart education in Kannada or the mother tongue of a child.

Though the schools were supposed to teach in Kannada medium, they had switched over to teaching in English.

The State in 2006 ordered an inquiry after it received complaints that a large number of schools which were permitted to teach in Kannada were violating the language policy and teaching in English.

Penalty

The State had then framed a voluntary policy asking institutions which had violated the language policy to pay a one-time penalty and once again give an undertaking that they would teach in Kannada from first to fifth standards.

Several schools, including the Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA), had petitioned the High Court against the voluntary policy.

The court had not only upheld the policy, but also directed the petitioner-schools to give an undertaking in the court that they would teach primary school students in Kannada from the next academic year.

Clause quashed

On July 2, 2008, a Full Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph, Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice N. Kumar upheld the State’s language policy, but quashed the clause making it mandatory for private and unaided institutions to follow the State policy on the medium of instruction.

Plea

The schools had filed petitions in the High Court urging it to give them the benefit of the Full Bench judgment and permit them to switch over to teaching in English.

When the matter came up on Monday, the court was told that a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by the State against the Full Bench judgment was pending appeal in the Supreme Court.

Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh, who is hearing cases relating to language policy and medium of instruction, adjourned further hearing on the case.

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