<div dir="ltr"><span style class=""><h1>Skewed policy leaves kids in lurch</h1></span><span style="margin-top:5px;display:block" class=""><span style="display:inline-block;vertical-align:middle"><a class="" rel="author" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Pavan-MV.cms">Pavan MV</a>,TNN
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Nov 6, 2014, 07.23 AM IST</span></span><div class=""><div id="commentWrapper" class=""><div class="" id="sharebar"><div class=""><div class=""><div><div class="" id="ctcnt1"><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Skewed-policy-leaves-kids-in-lurch/articleshow/45053745.cms#write"><div id="ctcnt1in" class=""><div class="" id="ctcnt2in"><span>2</span></div></div></a></div><a class="" href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Skewed-policy-leaves-kids-in-lurch/articleshow/45053745.cms#write"> </a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><span style="vertical-align:bottom;width:49px;height:86px"></span></div></div><div class=""><span class="" style="line-height:1;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;text-align:center"><span style="padding:0px!important;margin:0px!important;text-indent:0px!important;display:inline-block!important;vertical-align:baseline!important;font-size:1px!important"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199938_3-container" class=""><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199938_3" class=""><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199938_3-inner" class=""><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199938_3-content" class="">0</span></span></span></span></span><br><span style="padding:0px!important;margin:0px!important;text-indent:0px!important;display:inline-block!important;vertical-align:baseline!important;font-size:1px!important"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199931_2"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199931_2-logo">in</span><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199931_2-title"><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199931_2-mark"></span><span id="li_ui_li_gen_1415290199931_2-title-text">Sha</span></span></span></span></span></div><div class=""><div id="more"><a id="moreimg1" class=""><span class=""> </span></a></div></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class="" align="right"><small class="">A</small></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><span style="float:left" name="advenueINTEXT" id="advenueINTEXT"><div class="" id="storydiv"><div style="border-bottom:1px solid black;padding-bottom:5px" class="" id="inc_dec"><div id="artext1" class=""><div class="">
The alleged rape of a three-year-old girl by an attendant on their
school campus in north Bengaluru late last month has had widespread
ramifications. The as sault set off a flurry of events, one of which was
the revelation that the international school was not even legal. The
school has reopened but students and parents are quite worried. They
don't know if the school will continue to operate in its present form.
They don't know where to go as the transfer certifi cates it issues
would be just a piece of paper. Be sides, the school hasn't even
obtained the prom ised CBSE affiliation. <br><br> The school has been
accused of committing violations under the Karnataka Education Act. It
took permission to offer classes 1 to 5 in Kannada medium, but actually
taught in the English medium from nursery to class 7. <br><br> This
school is, in fact, one of the thousands of institutions that could find
themselves on a list of illegal schools now being drawn up by the
department of public instruction. The exercise could leave thousands of
students nowhere to go. <br><br> Parents of these children are asking
why this exercise is being undertaken now though the education
department has been party to all the violations. <br><br> Experts trace
the problem to the state government's language policy introduced in
1994. The policy mandated imparting education in the mother tongue,
Kannada in most cases. But, the state knew fully well that people wanted
their kids to be educated in the English medium. Lacking the political
will to take on the pro-Kannada lobby, the government turned a blind eye
to violations of the language policy . <br><br> After the policy was
introduced, around 6,000 schools have been granted permission to open by
offering education in the Kannada medium. But most offer English-medium
education and everyone concerned -the political class, officialdom and
managements -let this violation thrive. <br><br> Private school
managements have gone to court and the case has been one long litany of
petitions, counter-petitions, appeals and counter-appeals. <br><br>
Niranjanaradhya VP, fellow, Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, said
when the matter was in the court, the education department allowed many
schools to run in English medium illegally .The department didn't
monitor the schools and this is now affecting parents and children, he
added. <br><br> Most schools got around the language clause by getting
CBSE and ICSE affiliations. But these affiliations come into the picture
only when the school begins running class X. Also, the state
government's No-Objection Certificate is mandatory . Here too, the
officials and management colluded. They began functioning by taking
permission for Kannada medium but in practice were English-medium
schools. <br><br> <strong>What the court said</strong><br> On July 2,
2008, Karnataka high court struck down the language policy and held that
parents were free to choose the medium of instruction for their
children. The matter went to the Supreme Court where a constitutional
bench ruled on May 6, 2014 that parents could choose the language of
education for their wards. <br><br> Parents and schools thought the
judgment would be the last word. But the state government, till date,
has not invited applications from schools for running English-medium
classes. <br><br> The Karnataka Unaided Schools Management's Association
(Kusma) urged the department of primary and secondary education to
register its over 1,000 members as English-medium schools but the state
government is not acting on it. K V Dhananjay, legal adviser, Kusma,
said he had filed a petition and the SC has clearly directed in 2009
that the government shall not pass any closure orders against
unrecognised schools and this ruling alone will be enough protection for
English-medium schools registered as Kannada-medium schools. <br><br>
There are around 1,200 schools under the umbrella of the Karnataka State
Private School Management Association (KSPSMA) and most are registered
as Kannada medium schools. D Shashi Kumar, organizing secretary ,
KSPSMA, said the government cannot declare these schools as unauthorized
as they have violated only one clause. Even after the SC judgment, the
government has not shown any interest to resolve this issue and this
only amounts to contempt of court, he alleged. <br><br> On September 15,
KSPSMA requested the government to consider all existing schools as
English-medium schools. Shashi Kumar said, "If the government doesn't do
anything, we'll be forced to file a contempt of court case." <br><br>
The government's reluctance to implement the judgment is worrying for
the thousands of parents. In the north Bengaluru school, officials talk
of not allowing the school from running classes 6 and 7. <br><br> The
department of public instruction has now begun posting on its website a
list of legal schools. Parents of students of schools not in this list
will face more uncertainty, thanks to the paralysis afflicting
decision-making levels of the government.<br><br><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Skewed-policy-leaves-kids-in-lurch/articleshow/45053745.cms">http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Skewed-policy-leaves-kids-in-lurch/articleshow/45053745.cms</a><br></div></div></div></div></span><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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