The Karnataka High Court pulled up the state government for making Kannada compulsory for students during their graduation. This is the second time the court questioned the government for making the language compulsory for non-Kannadiga students. The bench consisting of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi asked why the state in bringing politics into education.
However, the government maintained that their objective is to make students learn Kannada and there is scope for encouraging its learning. But the bench asked the government if they know how many students had not opted to study in Karnataka because of the language compulsion. It also pointed out that making Kannada or any language compulsory in Higher Education is not mentioned under the National Education Policy. As the government counsel asked time to submit arguments in this regard, the court adjourned the next hearing to November 15.
Last month, four organisations including Samskrita Bharati (Karnataka) Trust, Mahavidyalaya Samskrita Pradhyapaka Sangha, Hayagriva Trust and Vyoma Linguistic Labs Foundation— had challenged the government orders dated August 7, 2021, and September 15, 2021, issued by the Department of Higher Education, seeking to implement the National Education Policy 2020 in the State of Karnataka.
The division bench which has been hearing the PIL had earlier told the government to revisit its decision of making the local language compulsory for graduate students.
