'Teaching English in Kannada medium schools only way to save Kannada'

6th Alvas Nudisiri witnesses a colourful beginning at Moodabidre

“English is the hunger of the new age. Kannada should inevitably adapt itself to the style and form of this fast changing world,” he said.

He was delivering the presidential address at the 6th Alva’s Nudisiri that witnessed a colourful beginning at Vidyagiri here on Friday. Alva’s Education Foundation is organising the three-day national literary and cultural conference.
“There is nothing wrong in learning English as a language along with Kannada. It is inevitable. It is the need of the hour too,” he said adding that one should not become over sentimental regarding Kannada since one has to understand the present by looking at the truth of the past and necessities of the future.
“No language grows in vacuum. It lives only when it is used. Kannada has grown in the company of other languages. Nobody can destroy Kannada so easily, for it has the ability to withstand all odds,” he said.

Emphasising on the present state of Kannada medium schools, Prof Hampana said Kannada medium schools appear drought-hit, failing to attract students. “They are migrating towards English medium schools despite they being expensive. Though government schools offer a lot of free-of-cost facilities, people have not found them interesting. Parents are worried about the future of their children,” the writer said.
“If the situation continues, the Kannada medium schools will be forced to close down which make the ones studying in them directionless. English need to be taught in Kannada medium schools to avoid this impending crisis,” he noted.

Renowned poet N S Lakshminarayan Bhat who inaugurated the conference by pouring milk on paddy corns placed on a bronze vessel, said coordination is the mantra of the modern age. “Ours is the land where religions co-existed in such a way that it happened nowhere else in the world. We have lived religious coordination and proved it successful,” he said quoting examples from history.
Kannada literary history is the history of coordination among people, languages and religions. The whole world is marching towards such mutual understanding, which can be a form of globalisation,  he noted.

Alva’s Education Foundation President Dr M Mohan Alva, the chief organiser of Nudisiri, MLA K Abhayachandra, former minister K Amaranath Shetty and his wife Jayashree Shetty were present on the occasion.

On the other side

* The inaugural was preceded by a grand cultural procession featuring different folk genres of Karnataka. The conference President in Tulunadu’s traditional attire was brought on a palanquin.
* This is the Saraswathi Pooja performed by a Lakshmiputra - N S L
* I haven’t seen this amount of splendour even during my marriage - Hampana
* Tulunadu is the rainbow of Karnataka, but the condition of roads connecting this district mirror the height of generosity of the Tulunadu people - Hampana
* Over 3,000 student delegates registered for Nudisiri, apart from a large number of public.
* Exhibition of books, handicrafts, philately, paintings, sculptures and aquariums attracted the visitors.