Panel recommends compulsory Kannada in tech institutions

Kannada language should be made mandatory in all institutions of technical education in the State, a committee headed by Prof H C Boralingaiah, former vice chancellor of Kannada University, Hampi, has recommended.

This includes engineering, medical, law, agriculture and horticulture universities.
The committee was constituted six months ago and the registrars of all the universities in the State were members of it.

Speaking with Deccan Herald, Boralingaiah said English was mandatory in degree colleges, but Kannada was offered as optional along with other languages. “Studying Kannada should also be made mandatory. Earlier, even for professional courses, studying Kannada was mandatory. But there was no examination and each institution was left itself to implement it. Hence, no one took it seriously,” he said.

While ideally the language should be taught for four semesters, the committee has recommended it for “at least two semesters”, he said. The recommendations have taken into account both students within the State and those who have come from other states.

While ‘Samskruthika Kannada’ – teaching students the culture and history of the State – has been recommended for students from Karnataka, for those who have come from other states, ‘Kriyathmaka Kannada’ – giving an introduction and orientation to the language – has been suggested.

Boralingaiah said learning the language should be fun and students should not be burdened by it. For this purpose, the committee has also recommended that each university develop its own curriculum approved by the respective Board of Studies. It has been also suggested that curriculum should be designed in such a way that the topics are related to students’ field of study.

“Each university can constitute a committee for the purpose and take the help of an expert in their field who also has good knowledge of Kannada language.” The committee has urged the government to include this in the syllabus from the academic year 2016-17.Minister for Higher Education T B Jayachandra said the committee report was submitted to the government on Saturday morning and the government would study it before deciding on its implementation.

H S Boralingaiah, ex-vice chancellor, Kannada University: Each university can constitute a committee for the purpose and take the help of an expert in their field who also has good knowledge of Kannada language.