Second-time Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy recently announced that English will be taught along with Kannada in government schools from next academic session.
But when he was the CM in 2006, Kumaraswamy was opposed to this very idea. In fact, Kumaraswamy hadpassed a diktat asking 1,00,000 English-speaking children to change schools as he had put a ban on English learning in 2100 primary schools in the state.
Moreover, 800 schools were reportedly derecognised then for using English as a medium of instruction. All this was done apparently keeping in mind the 1994 state language policy which dictates that no language other than Kannada can be used as a medium of instruction in the state’s schools.
This year, however, Kumaraswamy has completely changed his stance.
“We are already setting the stage for English to be taught as a language in the lower kindergarten (LKG) and Class I of government schools,” the CM told reporters on Thursday.
The statement by the CM came soon after the Karnataka government mulled not giving permission for the setting up of new private schools. At the time, an official from the department of the department of primary and secondary education said that parents from economically weaker sections choose to admit their children in private schools under the Right to Education category instead of government schools.
In fact, in 2018, introducing English is something that the JD(S) had promised in their manifesto in the run-up to the elections. Their manifesto had the mention of introducing “Spoken Kannada” and “Spoken English” in government schools.
“The proportion of children studying in government schools has come down from 76% to 58%. Quality of teaching in government schools have not been to the satisfaction of parents. Private schools that are teaching in English Medium are attracting children. Children from economically weaker sections are suffering from poor quality education in government schools. We will improve quality of teaching in government sc