School likely to lose affiliation for penalising students for speaking Kannada

A private unaided school in the city is facing disaffiliation for penalising children for speaking in Kannada on the school premises.

The development follows a recommendation by Kannada Development Authority (KDA) chief T S Nagabharana to disaffiliate the SLS International Gurukul, Horamavu.

The school had recently issued a circular, imposing a penalty of Rs 50 if students speak in Kannada. Some parents raised objections to this, prompting Nagabharana and other officials to visit the school. Following this, primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar directed KDA officials to initiate action.

In a note to the principal secretary of the department, the minister said action must be initiated based on the recommendations by the KDA chief and a report should follow. The school authorities apologised for the ‘error’ and said: “It (the circular) was sent by mistake.”

But Nagabharana decided to initiate stringent action as it would be a lesson for other schools that have such an attitude towards the language.