In a victory for lakhs of parents who want their children to learn the global language English, Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Karnataka government not to stand in the way of parents’ dreams.
Castigating the state government for imposing Kannada as the medium of instruction in primary schools, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan asked the government not to force Kannada as the medium of instruction in primary classes. It also directed the government not to close any private school which decided to go against the state policy by imparting education through English medium.
Directing that the government shall not pass any closure orders against unrecognised schools, the apex court refused to stay the July 2, 2008 order of the Karnataka high court of allowing private schools to choose the medium of instruction. In July last year the Karnataka HC had made it clear that medium of instruction should be parents’ choice. However, the SC gave relief to the state, which is yet to implement the HC order, by staying contempt proceedings initiated by the HC against the chief secretary and officials of the education department.
The government decided to ignore several raps from the HC for not implementing the July 2, 2008 order. Instead, it went on an appeal before the SC assuming that the apex court would come to its rescue.
With the apex court’s order, the state government would now have no option but to grant permission to hundreds of schools which have already applied for starting English-medium primary schools.
Arguing for the state for a stay on the HC order, senior advocate P P Rao and counsel Sanjay Hegde said educationists were of the unanimous opinion that a child’s reception was maximum when he was imparted education in his mother tongue.
The Bench did not question this proposition but drew the counsel’s attention to the practical side of the problem. “Students studying in mother tongue stand at a lesser footing as all competitive examinations are in English.â€
Appearing for an association of more than 200 private schools, senior advocate A K Ganguly said: “Teaching the mother tongue as a compulsory subject is not a problem. The problem arose when the state insisted on Kannada as the medium of instruction.
