Cabinet approves Kannada Language Learning Bill 2015

It also gave its nod to amending the Right to Education Act

 The State Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod to the Kannada Language Learning Bill-2015 that seeks to make Kannada language a mandatory subject in classes 1 to 10 in all schools affiliated to the State board.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to amending the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, popularly known as the Right to Education Act, to restore the primacy of Kannada or mother tongue as medium of instruction for imparting education in primary school from classes 1 to 5.

Both the bills will be tabled in the ongoing budget session of the legislature, sources said. Once the Kannada Language Learning Bill-2015 comes into effect, Kannada will be taught as a mandatory subject from classes 1 to 10 in all schools that follow the State syllabus. However, the legislation will not cover CBSE and ICSE schools, the sources said.

In order to restore the primacy of Kannada as a medium of instruction in primary schools, Section 29 (2) (f) of the RTE that states “medium of instruction shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue” will be amended with an insertion “Kannada or mother tongue will be medium of instruction in primary schools” from classes 1 to 5, sources said.

The Supreme Court last year had upheld a Karnataka High Court judgement striking down an executive order issued by the State government in 1994 to impose Kannada or mother tongue as a medium of instruction in primary schools.

The Supreme Court also rejected a revision petition filed by the State government seeking review of its ruling. A curative petition filed by the government is yet to be heard by the Supreme Court.

The amendment would also help the State government in its arguments before the Supreme Court, when the curative petition is taken up, the sources added.

The Cabinet decision will also be conveyed to the apex court, when petitions filed by school managements that they be allowed to start English medium primary schools is taken up.

The government will also bring a suitable amendment to the Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Teachers) Act, 2007, to increase the cap on teachers’ transfer from the present five per cent to eight per cent.