Two school unions write to PM, CM; seek action against edu min

Associated Management Of Primary And Secondary Schools in Karnataka in a letter to Bommai questioned the Karnataka government’s proposed position paper on making language education a part of the NEP.

Two school associations from the state on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai against Karnataka Primary and Secondary education minister BC Nagesh for his “unscientific decision making”.

The school associations wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Basavaraj Bommai against education minister BC Nagesh for his “unscientific decision making”. (HT File)

President of the Karnataka unit of Registered Unaided Private Schools Management Association (RUPSA), Lokesh Talikatte, in the letter addressed to Modi has demanded action against Nagesh.

“Sir, we are very sorry to bring to your kind notice that a few leaders, under your leadership, have failed to understand the spirit of your functioning. They behave like an uncrowned king. The Education Minister for Primary and Higher Secondary Education of Karnataka is one such,” the letter read.

“It is the ardent duty of the state to provide quality education to every pupil of the state. But our minister doesn’t understand this and always works against it. You are aware of the effects of Covid on education. Students have suffered due to a lack of education continuously for two years. To add to this, child marriage, child labour etc. crept in again,” added the letter.

It went on to add that instead of giving attention to such challenging issues, Nagesh was focusing on issues such as textbook revision. “It is uncalled for. The result is, even after two months of school reopening, the government is not in a position to supply textbooks. Our minister is using National Education Policy (NEP) as a scarecrow. The state government has not allocated any funds for NEP implementation. The responsible education minister has simply indulged in loose talks for two years and has become a laughing stock,” the letter added.

Associated Management Of Primary And Secondary Schools in Karnataka in a letter to Bommai questioned the Karnataka government’s proposed position paper on making language education a part of the NEP.

The letter pointed out that the state’s NEP 2020, which proposes that education in the local language or mother tongue, is problematic. “Wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Class 5, but preferably till Class 8 and beyond will be the home language/mother-tongue/local language/regional language. In accordance with this, the position paper recommends that the medium of instruction should be compulsorily mother tongue/home language / local language / regional language (Kannada). Starting from the foundational level up to Class 5,” read the proposal to which the association took objection.

“The committee has failed in knowing and understanding the landmark judgement as per which right to education is a fundamental right flowing from Article 21 of the Constitution. By virtue of Article 21-A, right to free and compulsory primary education is a fundamental right guaranteed to all children between the age of six to fourteen years. The right to choose a medium of instruction is implicit in the right to education. It is a fundamental right of the parent and the child to choose the medium of instruction even in primary schools,” read the letter.

The letter said that as per the proposal, the government policy compelling children studying in other government recognized schools to have primary education only in the mother tongue or the regional language is in violation of Article 19(1)(g), 26 and 30(1) of the Constitution.

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court considering the matter in light of Articles 350-A, 19-1(a), 19-1(g), 19(2), 21, 21-A and the other Articles inter alia, held that right of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution includes the freedom of a child to be educated at the primary stage of school in a language of the choice of the child and the state cannot impose controls on such choice just because it thinks that it will be more beneficial for the child if he is taught in the primary stage of school in his mother tongue,” the letter said.

“A child or on his behalf his parent or guardian, therefore, has a right to freedom of choice with regard to the medium of instruction in which the child would like to be educated at the primary stage in school,” the association said.

The education minister and his office didn’t respond to the HT’s request for a comment on the allegations made against him.