Karnataka to study SC order on mother tongue in primary schools: CM

Bangalore: Karnataka government will decide its next step on the Supreme Court order, striking down its decision to impose Kannada as a medium of instruction in primary education, after studying the verdict, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here. "....I have got to know about Supreme Court order; I'm yet to get details about it, once I have details we will decide on further course of action," he told reporters here.

He was reacting to the Supreme Court judgement that government cannot impose mother tongue on linguistic minority for imparting primary education. Siddaramaiah said "....once we have order copy with us, we will discuss it and see what is to be done legally."

A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha, today said: "State has no power to compel linguistic minority to impart primary education by compulsorily imposing regional language."

The bench, also comprising Justices A K Patnaik, S J Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and F M I Kalifulla, was hearing the issue which had come before the Apex Court as two Karnataka Government Orders of 1994 making mother tongue or regional language compulsory for imparting education from class I to IV, had come under challenge.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council D V Sadananda Gowda said, "I urge the CM to call a meeting of political leaders, legal and language experts to discuss about this Supreme Court verdict."

"We will together have to find out a solution to this in order to safeguard our culture and its values," he added. Several pro-Kannada organisations have urged the government to file a review petition in this regard.

PTI

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