Govt agrees to make Kannada compulsory in higher education

Uniform guidelines suggested for awarding PhD, MPhil degrees

After setting out to make Kannada a compulsory subject through schooling in all schools in the State, the government has now approved a proposal to make Kannada a mandatory subject in all the higher education institutions in the State.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) here on Wednesday.

The decision was taken based on a proposal by L Hanumanthiah, president, Kannada Development Authority. He had proposed that the government make studying Kannada as a language compulsory in all the higher education institutions and universities across the State with effect from the academic year 2015-16 itself. This proposal was submitted before the members of the Higher Education Council on Wednesday and it was approved.

This comes in the wake of the State government bringing an amendment to the Right to Education Act this year, seeking to include Kannada as a subject throughout schooling. According to officials in the KSHEC, it was decided that Kannada would be taught in all the colleges affiliated to all universities in the State. The language would be taught for four semesters in graduation, as per the decision.

Minister for Higher Education and Tourism R V Deshpande along with Vice Chancellors of several universities across the state, took part in the meeting.

Further, the members also decided to include the National Service Scheme (NSS) as part of the exam valuation procedure in all universities.

All the universities should follow uniform rules for awarding PhD and M Phil. In order to increase enrolment in higher education in all universities, the admissions would be increased by 15 per cent, the members decided.

At the meeting, the minister directed all the vice-chancellors to try and achieve a uniform system among all the universities in the State. For this purpose, the VCs were asked to establish better communication and coordination with the other universities.

Among two other significant proposals in the meeting, it was suggested that the government adopt Human Rights course as one of the subject in all the undergraduate technical colleges.

Along with this, a discussion was also held on Bangalore University's decision not to allow private PUC candidates to get admitted to the university-affiliated colleges. However, there was no confirmation about any decision taken in this regard.