Giving one last chance for primary schools which had violated Government norms on medium of instruction to apply afresh for recognition, the State government on Tuesday extended the deadline to opt for the “voluntary scheme” to June 15.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore after heading a meeting of education department officials, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti said the derecognised schools which do not apply under the scheme will have to close down. Under the voluntary scheme, schools will have to apply afresh for recognition with the education department by paying a penal fine ranging between Rs one lakh and Rs 25,000. (depending on the location of the school).

This is the second time that the Government is extending the scheme to the derecognised schools. The Government had first announced May 15 as the deadline to opt for the scheme which provides the derecognised schools four years’ grace time to phase out English-medium classes. However, many schools approached the Karnataka HC which last week had ordered the closure of schools which had violated Government norms on medium of instruction.

Students’ interest
“The decision to extend the deadline for the scheme has been taken in the interest of students. There will be no further extensions. Schools which do not apply under the scheme by June 15 will be considered derecognised and students of these schools will have to be relocated,” Mr Horatti.

Schools which opt for the scheme will have no first standard (English medium) and they cannot admit fresh students to other classes. The present students of the school will be allowed to continue to study in English medium but will have to compulsorily study Kannada as a language.

The Government had derecognised 2,951 schools for violating the Government norm on medium of instruction. These schools had submitted an undertaking to the education department that they would impart education in Kannada but were found to conduct classes in English. As many as 3.62 lakh students are studying in these schools.  While expressing confidence that most of the schools will apply under the scheme, Mr Horatti said the Government will work out a strategy in case the question of relocating students arises. “Near-by schools will be directed to admit students,” he said.

The schools’ fresh affiliation application will be considered only if they satisfy the infrastructure guidelines notified by the education department and also follow the norms on facilities provided to teachers.
Mr Horatti said the education department will also launch a probe to identify officials who allowed these schools to violate norms and initiate disciplinary action against them.

The department will also make suitable amendments to the rules to make any further violation of norms punishable with a jail term up to one month applicable to the president and secretary of the school management, he said.

Further, Deputy Directors of Public Instruction and Block Education Officers will be held responsible for any

HC REFUSES TO STAY GO
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday made it clear to some derecognised schools that either they have to file affidavit stating that they would follow the medium of instruction as per their undertaking or to make admissions as per the government notification after paying prescribed penalty.
Justice Ram Mohan Reddy gave this option to Cambridge School, JP Nagar, Bangalore and other institutions, while dealing their petitions seeking stay of orders passed by the government derecognising the institutions for not imparting education in Kannada medium in violation of undertaking given in this regard.
The judge refused to stay the government order as the institutions were not prepared to file an affidavit stating that they would impart education in Kannada medium for fresh students admitted to class one from this academic year.
However, during the hearing, the court expressed displeasure about the way in which Block Education Officers conduct inspection of the schools. The judge opined that officers rarely visited schools to ascertain the number of students and basic infrastructure.