<div dir="ltr"><h1>Knowledge Commission bats for Kannada as medium of instruction</h1>
<div class="gmail-postedBy">Bengaluru, Nov 06, 2016, DHNS</div>
<p>Tells govt to adopt policy in all state-run, pvt schools for classes 1-4</p>
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<img class="gmail-floatLeftImg" src="http://www.deccanherald.com/page_images/thumb/2016/11/06/579615_thump.jpg" alt="Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy (centre) releases the Karnataka State Education Policy drafted by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Saturday. (Left) Commission Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan and Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait are seen. dh Photo" title="Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy (centre) releases the Karnataka State Education Policy drafted by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Saturday. (Left) Commission Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan and Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait are seen. dh Photo" border="0">
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<strong>The Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) has
recommended that the government adopt a multi-lingual language policy
with mother tongue or Kannada as the medium of instruction in state-run
and private schools for classes 1 to 4.<br></strong><br>The Commission
has recommended that students should be allowed to decide whether to
continue with the same medium of instruction or switch over to English
medium at the class 5.<br><br> English should be a compulsory subject from class 1 and a third language could be introduced from class 5 onwards.<br><br>The
state language policy adopted in 1994 had made it mandatory that
Kannada should be the medium of instruction for classes 1 to 7 in all
schools. The policy has been struck down by the Supreme Court. The state
is yet to come out with a new policy. <br><br>The recommendation on
medium of instruction is a part of the draft “Karnataka State Education
Policy” prepared by the KKC for the consideration of the government. It
was submitted to the government on Saturday. The document which has over
100 recommendations in the sectors of school and university education
besides governance was handed over by KKC Chairman and space scientist
K Kasturirangan to Primary and Secondary Minister Tanveer Sait and
Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy in Bengaluru. <br><strong><br>Education for all</strong><br>Briefing
reporters, Kasturirangan said the KKC has recommended that the
government should take steps to ensure 12 years of uniformised and
high-quality, standardised education for every child. <br><br>No child
must be deprived of quality education because of birth or geographical
reasons. For the girl child, the government should ensure 12+3 years of
guaranteed education.<br><br><strong>Single-discipline varsities</strong><br>The
panel has also suggested phasing out of single-discipline universities.
The state has a host of single-discipline universities including one
for technical education, medical sciences, agriculture, horticulture,
veterinary sciences, Sanskrit among others. <br><br>Universities must be
allowed to offer education in all disciplines, including engineering,
medicine, law, architecture, skill development, Kasturirangan said.<br>The KKC has recommended that at least 1% of teachers should be trained in top institutions abroad every year.<br><br>Rayareddy
and Sait said the government will study the draft policy of the KKC and
decide on its implementation by placing it before state Cabinet within
the next three months. <br><br>The recommendations of KKC are not
binding on the government. Several recommendations made by the
KKC earlier have not been implemented. <br> <br><em><strong>Rs 107 cr for economics school</strong><br>The
state government has earmarked Rs 107 crore for the proposed school of
economics in Bengaluru, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy
said.<br>Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Rayareddy said
the school of economics will be named after the architect of Indian
Constitution B R Ambedkar and will come up on the Bengaluru University’s
Jnana Bharathi campus. “We have identified a 50-acre plot for the
school right opposite to the National Law School of India University
(NLSIU),” the minister said.<br>A committee headed by former chief
secretary S V Ranganath will work out the modalities and framework for
the institute, which will be modelled on the prestigious London School
of Economics, he said. “We will make efforts to open the school from the
next academic year,” he said.<br><br><br><strong>Recommendations</strong><br>*Adopt uniform and standardised education system which applies to both government and private schools across the state <br>*State
schools should adopt CBSE’s curriculum from classes 1 to 10 and at the
same time emphasis should be on state topics in history, culture,
geography among <br>others.<br>*There should be no detention of any child at the school level from classes 1 to 10. <br>*All students must have access to any state university of their choice in Karnataka.<br>*Expert panel be constituted to advise the government on educational matters.<br><br clear="all"></em><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/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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