Kannada teaching to be compulsory in central schools

The teaching of Kannada as a language will be made compulsory in CBSE and ICSE schools, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait said on Wednesday.

“The rule already exists. But some schools are not following it. Strict action will be taken against schools which are not following this rule,” Sait said. CBSE and ICSE schools in Karnataka, which are running classes 1 to 8 without obtaining no objection certificates (NOC) from the state government, may get notices to follow the state syllabus.

He said that they wrote a letter seeking clarification from the CBSE board and they replied that if schools are running without permission, the state government can take appropriate action. Sait said that they are expecting a similar response from the ICSE council as well.

There are some schools which have sought permission from CBSE board or ICSE council only for class 9 to 12 but are following, their syllabi from Class 1 to 8, he said. The government may consider issuing notices to these schools, instructing them to follow state syllabus for Class 1 to 8.

Sait said that there are more than 2,000 schools in the state which are following CBSE and ICSE syllabus from class 1 to 12. But only some of them have obtained NOC from the government, he added.