Line of Thinking: Make Kannada a compulsory second language

Schools are being held hostage by a policy that has been disregarded even by the Supreme Court. Maybe, just maybe, there is a silver lining to all this – it could be our chance to come up with long term, sustainable and practical solutions to keep our children safe and happy.

When the controversy over the medium of instruction began way back in 1994, the Karnataka government decided to allow only Kannada medium schools to open in the state.

But the schools approached the high court and it ruled in their favour, saying parents could decide the medium of instruction for their children. The government appealed, but the Supreme Court upheld the high court judgment. But the state has been unwilling to bend for a decade.

This has left schools in a no-win situation. Nobody wants to set up a school based on illegalities. The investments are very large and ultimately, every entrepreneur’s aim is to set up an institution of quality and repute. Even schools that wanted ICSE or CBSE affiliation were unable to do so directly, because these boards require the medium of instruction to be English.

And let’s face it. Parents want their children to speak English it is a nationwide aspiration and there is no running away from it.

So schools are forced to bend the rules apply for Kannada medium and then try for an affiliation afterwards. What does the state hope to achieve? Does it want to eradicate CBSE and ICSE schools from Karnataka, or create some kind of monopoly through the state board? If the medium of instruction is changed to English, even for SSLC, many schools may opt for it, instead of CBSE and ICSE affiliation, which takes about two years to get.

There is only one solution and it involves the government seeing reason. It needs to accept reality and understand that it is the children who suffer at the end of the day.

There are many schools running illegally and if they are shut down, there will be a staggering number of children looking at uncertain futures. The existing schools will not be able to accommodate them all, whichever way you look at it.

Sure, there has been talk of approaching the Union government and having a Bill introduced in parliament, but it’s a rather far-fetched idea. It will take time and may not come through even then.

Can we ask our children to wait? Can we leave them in the lurch?

Having said that, it must be understood that private schools are not opposed to Kannada or trying to undermine it in any way. We agree that any child who wants to live and study in Karnataka needs to know the local language it’s of the utmost importance.

But let’s deal with it practically. Make Kannada a compulsory second language, so that every child learns it, no matter which school he or she goes to.

It is upto the government to regularise the schools in a way that is in keeping with the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment.

At the moment, the fact is that we are being held hostage to a policy that even our judicial system has chosen to dismiss.

—The writer is a trustee, DPS