Karnataka: ‘2’s comfort, 3’s crowd’ formula may crowd out state’s kids in global order

Bengaluru: Shifting from the three-language formula to two-language policy, and implementation of mother tongue or Kannada as medium of education - two major recommendations of the State Education Policy (SEP) commission - have received criticism from various stakeholders, with some warning of legal consequences. 

The commission recently submitted its report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Private schools and parents have strongly opposed the recommendations. 

‘It’s limitation not liberation’

They say the language a child learns should be the discretion of the child and the parent. They call it an “Injustice to state board students and national misalignment”.

Presently, Karnataka follows a three-language structure: Kannada, English and a third language, class 6 onwards.

“This model has ensured that our students are not only proficient in Kannada and English, but are also exposed to an additional national language. This aligns with Unesco’s definition of multilingual education (mother tongue + regional/national language + international language). Curtailing the third language will deprive students of parity with peers across India, particularly CBSE and ICSE students, who continue to access diverse language options,” argues D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka.

He said medium of instruction is a settled matter by the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. The choice lies with parents and child. They should have considered this while framing the policy. This is also a violation of minority rights. The two-language policy violates Article 350 of the Constitution, Shashi Kumar said. 

A former bureaucrat who worked with the school education department said, “It will harm employability and global readiness as multilingual skills give students cognitive, cultural and career advantages documented by research. Switching back to a two-language policy will create state-level isolation, producing graduates less prepared for national integration and global opportunities. This will undo decades of progress in aligning Karnataka with the national education vision”.

The private schools association claims the recommendations are a violation of constitutional and Supreme Court mandates.

“The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench in the KAMS vs Government of Karnataka (2014) case held that language policy must not curtail rights of parents, schools and students in educational choices, particularly regarding medium and language of instruction. In the Parents Association vs Government of Karnataka case, the validity of the government order is questioned in the writ petition on the ground that it is violative of Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution,” said a senior advocate of the association. 

“It is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution insofar as equal opportunity is not provided, in that students belonging to minority communities are discriminated against. The infringement of the right guaranteed under Article 350-A of the Constitution is apparent on the face of the impugned order as it prevents linguistic minority groups from availing the opportunity of choices of languages. The court reaffirmed that the state cannot impose restrictive policies that reduce access to broader educational opportunities or curtail the scope of multilingual learning,” he said. 

Legal challenge

Shashi Kumar says any dilution to a two-language formula would violate constitutional protections, exposing the state government to legal challenge.

“If the government tries to impose these recommendations, we will be forced to take up a legal fight against it,” he said.  

Political leaders calls this ‘Congress agenda’ and claim that multilingualism enhances cognitive flexibility, problem-solving and academic performance.

‘Anti-Hindi agenda’

Arun Shahapur, former BJP MLC, said, “A sudden reversal to bilingualism risks robbing Karnataka’s youth of national and international advantages”.

“This is clearly a political agenda of the Congress government to remove Hindi from the education system and not in the interest of the state, students or Kannada,” Arun said.

Teachers teaching third language in schools are worried about losing jobs.

Shashidhara C M, state president of Karnataka State Hindi Teachers’ Association, said, “There are over 25,000 teachers handling third languages in schools, including government ones. There is no clarity on ensuring job security. We have written to CM Siddaramaiah, School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa and others, but there is no reply. Many private schools are already telling Hindi teachers that their services are not needed next year”.

He said the two language-policy and mandating primary education in Kannada or mother tongue would cause a setback for Kannada.

“There are schools with other languages as medium of instruction, like Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Tulu, Telugu and Tamil. What if a student wants to study in his or her mother tongue and chose English as second language?” he says. 

‘Kannada is safe’

But officials and experts who were part of the SEP panel say there will be no such legal hurdles and that the policy will not cause setback to Kannada.

V P Niranjanaradhya, development educationist and member of SEP commission, said, “On medium of education, we have clarity that from pre-primary to class 5, mother tongue will be taught, which includes Kannada and other languages. Secondly, it will not contradict the 2014 order of the Supreme Court, because there was no National Education Policy then. When there is a policy, the court cannot interpret it. Next is the two-language formula. We have gathered information from private schools and as per data, 99% of children studying even in CBSE and ICSE schools have Kannada as mother tongue. Even CBSE issued a circular mandating mother tongue as medium of instruction at the foundation level.”

He said, “There is confusion about third language. It does not just mean Hindi. In SEP, we have given option for children of linguistic minority schools to learn third language, but there will no assessments for it. In the current system, Hindi is being imposed. As per SEP recommendations, after class 5, children can learn languages of their choice”.