[lg policy] Karnataka: Writer Devanur Mahadeva refuses to budge, declines to chair sahitya sammelana

[Harold Schiffman]

Writer Devanur Mahadeva refuses to budge, declines to chair sahitya
sammelana
 RELATED

MYSURU: The city-based litterateur Devanur Mahadeva, who has declined to
chair the Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, on Thursday asked the
Kannada Sahitya Parishat to ask the state government not to permit the
private education institutions to open primary schools and to enhance the
government quota to 50 per cent in the private schools under the provisions
of the Right to Education Act.

Advocating elementary education in mother tongue, the septuagenarian Dalit
writer told the Parishat president Pundalika Halambi that the Kannada body
should take lead in gathering a movement seeking primacy of education in
mother tongue rather than focusing on the literary meet, which, he felt,
have become mechanical.

In an open letter to Halambi, which the writer released to the media,
Mahadeva argued for building political pressure to push for Kannada as the
medium of instruction. He, however, has also factored in the need to pick
up English during schooling advocating teaching English as a language from
Class I.

The letter comes a fortnight after Mahadeva declined to chair the 81 stedition
of the meet planned at Jain pilgrimage centre, Shravanabelagola, in Hassan
in early 2015. In response to Mahadeva's stand, the CM Siddaramaiah had
said the government will file a curative petition in the apex court seeking
a review of the judgment that quashed the government's 1994 language policy
that mandated mother tongue as the compulsory medium of instruction in
primary schools, the writer is unrelenting. Siddaramaiah, a close friend of
the Dalit writer, had said he will speak to the writer. Last week, when the
writer was asked whether Siddaramaiah spoke to him, he refused to comment.

In his 5 page letter, the author of Kusumabale has picked up holes in the
Right to Education Act and asked the Parishat to take lead to get them to
the attention of the political class. The RTE Act specifies that "medium of
instructions shall, as for as practicable, be in child's mother tongue."
This rider is an impediment for pushing primary education in mother tongue
and should be done away with, he argued. Till Class III students should get
education in their mother tongues, he said asking the Parishat to prevail
upon the government to bring in changes to convert private education
institutions, both aided and unaided, as government agencies promoting
education in mother tongue.

The recipient of Padma Shri award expressed his displeasure about the SC
judgment, which, he said, threatens 22 desi languages recognized by the
Constitution. He asserted that none of the counties have tried to kill
their mother tongues to embrace foreign language. He saw as a sign of
subjugation the continued focus on education in English language even as he
pointed out that many nations like China, Japan, Korea and Thailand have
excelled as they have extended education in mother tongues. This helps in
identifying local talent pool, he stated.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Writer-Devanur-Mahadeva-refuses-to-budge-declines-to-chair-sahitya-sammelana/articleshow/45564069.cms


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