KDA yet to resume Kannada course stopped before Covid

Mysuru: Even as Karnataka is celebrating its ‘Suvarna Sambhrama’ - golden jubilee of renaming Mysuru state as Karnataka - the short-term Kannada offline course offered by the Kannada Development Authority, which was stopped before Covid, has not been resumed. 

This despite demand for the course from organisations like CFTRI and Railways, according to M D Sudarshan, assistant director of the department of Kannada and culture. The online course is on, but it is self instructional.  

Former KDA chairperson T S Nagabharana said they started the online course with self instructional material through ekannada.karnataka.gov.in, to teach Kannada to non-Kannadigas. The course has reached thousands of people in 80 countries, he said.

But KDA offers no certificate recognised by any university or institution for any of the courses, according to an officer of the Kannada and culture department. Also, KDA is without a chairperson for some time now. 

The Kannada Academy of USA has gone a step ahead and availed affiliation from University of Mysore (UoM) for its one-year, two-semester basic Kannada certificate course.

“In the year and half since getting affiliation, over 30 people have completed the course,” said Vijaya Karikal, director of the Kuvempu Institute of Kannada Studies (KIKS) of the UoM.  “Over 125 people from CFTRI had last availed KDA’s three-month offline Kannada course before Covid in Mysuru,” said a former assistant director of Kannada and culture department. 

Dharani Devi Malgaththi, director of the department, said she would make efforts to put the course back on track.

The Kannada Sahitya Parishat holds a Kannada Pravesha exam for those interested in learning Kannada, she said. 

Due to lack of awareness, the response is poor for the one-year Kannada diploma and certificate courses offered, especially for people from other states, by KIKS.

“One has to spare just two hours in the morning daily for the course,” Vijaya Karikal said.

There are not many takers for the 10-month full-time diploma in language education in Kannada (9.30 am-4 pm daily), offered by the Southern Regional Language Centre (SRLC) of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in Mysuru. 

This despite the fact that those enrolled get a stipend of Rs 6,000 per month.    

Rakesh Cherucudu, principal of SRLC, said “Though there are 22 seats, nine people have registered for it. We plan to start online Kannada learning courses shortly.”