KSP members demand uniform education system

Protest against English medium education in private schools

Members of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (KSP) staged protests in both districts on Saturday, demanding implementation of the uniform education system in the State.

Members of the KSP, accompanied by students, protested at the Gandhivana in Kolar City, demanding 80 per cent reservation in jobs for candidates educated in Kannada medium.

They held the State government responsible for the sorry state of the Kannada language. Lecturer Rudresh B Adarangi spoke on the employment problems faced by people educated in Kannada medium.

The protesters took out a procession on the main roads of the City, including MG Road, Doddapet Road, Ammavaripet Circle, MB Road and Mekke Circle, before settling down outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

They shouted slogans against the order to introduce English medium in government higher primary schools. “Private schools too should implement a uniform education system that teaches students in their mother tongues till the eighth standard,” they demanded.

In Bagepalli

The KSP members of the taluk and office-bearers of the Kannada Sene-Karnataka protested outside the Mini Vidhana Soudha, shouting slogans against the State government.

B R Krishna, president of the taluk unit of KSP said English medium had been implemented from sixth standard for 2012-13 in 341 government higher primary schools, which was a major blow to Kannada language.

“Many well-known private institutions are fleecing parents giving the excuse of English medium education. In contrast, about 10,000 Kannada schools have been closed for lack of enough students.

The Supreme Court has given an order that education till fourth standard should necessarily be in the mother tongue, but private institutions are forgoing the law,” he said.

The protesters submitted a memorandum to the tahsildar Narayanappa in this regard.