Order on minority tag soon: Kageri

The State government will soon issue an order defining minority status under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, said Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said the Law Department’s opinion has been sought on the draft of the definition prepared by the Primary and Secondary Education Department. A government order will be issued after obtaining the opinion.

The government has decided to implement the Act from this academic year. The question of deferring it to next year as demanded by the association of unaided school managements does not arise. “It is the responsibility of one and all to implement the Act,” he said.

On institutions that have already completed the admission process, he said there is still a lot of time for admission process as per the time table issued by the government. “Institutions should find ways to accommodate 25 per cent quota for the poor students as per the Act,” he stated.

Textbooks released

Kageri released PCMB (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology) textbooks for first year PUC (English version) as per the Central syllabus. Each set comprises 13 textbooks which costs about Rs 900. As many as 1.30 lakh sets have been printed and they will be available in the market, he added.

However, the department is yet to get the textbooks translated into Kannada. Kannada University, Hampi was tasked to publish the textbooks, but it could not complete the work. Now, the task has been entrusted to the Directorate of Translation. Kannada textbooks will be made available at the earliest, he added.

Kageri also said he will take steps to make textbooks available on the department’s website to help students to download if there is a shortage in supply of textbooks in the
market.