SC fiat on medium of teaching threat to local languages: CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to ensure that the Supreme Court withdraws its order on medium of instruction in primary schools.

In 2016, the Supreme Court had ruled that the medium of instruction cannot be imposed on students in primary schools. "This order has threatened the existence of regional languages. I have already written two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but haven't received any response till now. I will further urge the prime minister to safeguard our regional languages," the chief minister said during the 62nd Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations at Kanteerava Stadium here.

After hoisting the Kannada flag, Siddaramaiah said people need to change their attitude towards government schools. They prefer to go to government colleges for medical and engineering courses but it is not the case when it comes to government schools.

"It has been 61 years since our state was formed. Yet we are not successful in creating a cohesive environment for Kannada. Kannadigas have a huge heart. But, those who have been born and raised here should learn our language even if their mother tongue is different. It is our responsibility to help them learn Kannada," he said.

"Our language has about 2,000 years of history and a own script. Many parents have a misconception that their children would be smart only if they learn English. This is not correct," he said. He cited instances of Sir M Visvesvaraya and Prof CNR Rao who have made it big despite studying in Kannada medium.

"An order has been passed to teach English language from Class 1 in government schools. About 50,000 teachers are being trained in order to provide quality education out of which 10,00 are being trained for English language alone," he said.

He said the government will not shut down government schools at any cost. "We will continue to run classes even if there are hardly two or three students. It has also been made mandatory to teach Kannada in ICSC and CBSE schools."