[lg policy] Karnataka: State seeks refuge in Right to Education Act

[Harold Schiffman]

State seeks refuge in Right to Education Act


 23 Dec 2009 05:00:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 23 Dec 2009 08:26:37 AM IST

BANGALORE: The state government has cited the Central enactment Right
to Education Act, 2009 as one of the additional grounds in its defence
in the language policy case pending before the Supreme Court. The
Karnataka government has said that the Right to Education Act mandates
that the medium of instruction shall be the child’s mother tongue. The
state government had ordered that Kannada should be the medium of
instruction in primary schools. It was partly struck down by a full
bench of the High Court on July 2, 2008. The state government has
cited section 29 (f) of the Right to Education Act which stipulates
that the academic authority, while laying down the curriculum and
evaluation procedure, ensure that the medium of instruction of the
students, shall as far as practicable be their mother tongue.

It is obligatory on the part of the state government to provide
infrastructure to provide education in the mother tongue of the child,
the state government said in its additional statement. The state’s
language policy is in favour of law enacted by the Centre, the
government said in its statement. In July 2008, a full bench of the
Karnataka High Court had partly struck down the language policy of the
state. The Right to Education Act, 2009, came into force after the
full-bench verdict on the language policy. The Karnataka High Court
had held that the state had no power to make a rule that the medium of
instruction should be the mother tongue or Kannada in unaided schools.

In the language policy, the state has made Kannada the compulsory
medium of instruction from class one to five.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=State+seeks+refuge+in+Right+to+Education+Act&artid=MEs5IOZ1E9c=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&SEO=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==
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