[lg policy] Karnataka: Supreme Court Takes Up Karnataka Case on Primary Education in Mother Tongue

[Harold Schiffman]

 SC Takes Up Karnataka Case on Primary Education in Mother Tongue

By Kanu Sarda - NEW DELHI

Published: 13th February 2014 07:43 AM

Last Updated: 13th February 2014 07:43 AM

The Supreme Court heard a batch of petitions to decide whether mother
tongue or regional language can be imposed by states as the medium of
instruction for primary school students.

A Constitution Bench headed by Justice R M Lodha will also decide whether
setting up an authority to determine the mother tongue of a child seeking
education in schools is a restriction of fundamental rights or not.

The Karnataka government's 1994 Language Policy had made Kannada the medium
of instruction. Since then, there have been a series of cases between
private English-medium schools and the state government.

*HC Had Upheld Decision*

In 1993, a Supreme Court Bench of Chief Justice M N Venkatachalaiah and
Justice S Mohan upheld the government's decision.

In 2008, the Karnataka High Court struck down sections of the Language
Policy that made the mother tongue the mandatory medium of instruction,
ruling that parents were free to get their children educated in any
language of their choice.

The Karnataka government challenged before the Supreme Court the High
Court's decision to strike down the clauses.

A Division Bench of the Supreme Court referred the matter to a larger bench
last year.

Advocate General Ravi Varma Kumar, who appeared for the Karnataka
government, stressed that the state had the Constitutional obligation to
provide instructions to people in way of regulation.

Citing various provisions, Kumar told the Bench how important it was to
protect minority rights and institutions. "Primary school language should
be one's mother tongue and not English, for, English is an alien language,"
he said.

"The state has the power to regulate and the right to oppose restrictions
is the right of the state," Kumar said, while concluding his arguments.

The Bench will on Thursday hear the managements of various schools who
opposed the state's decision to include mother tongue in schools.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/SC-Takes-Up-Karnataka-Case-on-Primary-Education-in-Mother-Tongue/2014/02/13/article2053877.ece#.UvzyS4WePe0


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