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Kannada not mandatory under NEP: K’taka HC
The Centre’s submission on Wednesday was made in an affidavit filed by Dinesh T Pali, under-secretary, department of higher education (ministry of education).
The Union government has informed the Karnataka high court that the state government cannot make learning Kannada mandatory for undergraduate students, as per the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The Centre’s submission on Wednesday was made in an affidavit filed by Dinesh T Pali, under-secretary, department of higher education (ministry of education). The high court was hearing a petition filed by a group of students as well as a PIL filed by Samskrita Bharati (Karnataka) Trust, Bengaluru, and three other institutions associated with the promotion of Sanskrit language.
The petitioners have claimed that forcing students to learn Kannada as a language was opposite to the very objective of the NEP. In the last hearing on January 23, the state government contended that making Kannada a compulsory language was a policy decision in tune with the recommendations of the VK Gokak Committee report.
In the affidavit, Pali said that NEP is intended to achieve a comprehensive educational system for citizens while keeping local, regional, and national aspirations in mind. “The policy must be understood, interpreted, and implemented while keeping in mind the broad objectives enshrined in the Constitution,” the affidavit said.
“Paragraph 22.10 specifically states that higher education institutions will use mother tongue/local language as the medium of instruction and/or offer bilingually. Paragraph 23.6 envisions making a wide range of educational software available to students and teachers at all levels, in all major Indian languages. All states will continue to develop teaching-learning e-content in all regional languages, as will the NCERT, CIET, CBSE, NIOS, and other bodies/institutions, and will be uploaded to the DIKSHA platform,” the Centre’s affidavit said.
Meanwhile, a division bench led by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi adjourned the hearing to April 4 on the request of state’s advocate general.
The petition also requested that the government order requiring interstate and international degree students pursuing graduate programme, “Functional Kannada”, in one of the first-year semesters be revoked, claiming it is an ordeal for students who have never spoken a word of Kannada in their lives.
On December 16, last year, the high court issued an order prohibiting the state government and Bengaluru University from taking any precipitous action in the matter. The state government, however, defended the decision, claiming that students from other states would only be required to learn “Functional Kannada” for a year.
In August 2021, Karnataka became the first state in the country to issue the order with regard to the implementation of NEP.
