The Karnataka Development Authority (KDA) has written to Bengaluru's Sophia High School asking for clarification on the much-discussed Kannada issue. The move follows a viral social media post in which parents were deliberating on ways to approach the education department about dropping Kannada from the school syllabus. The post drew great ire from the masses.
In the screenshots of a WhatsApp group chat, parents were discussing approaching the education department on dropping Kannada for Class VIII students at the private school. In the letter, the authority asked that the school clarify whether it had dropped Kannada as a second language following demands from the parents, as per a report by The New Indian Express.
The WhatsApp group consisted of about 50 parents. Earlier, one of them had even alleged that the school’s principal, Alpana Palatty, had encouraged the parents to pressurise the department to drop Kannada. The messages seemed to be dated earlier than February this year.
According to sources within the Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), the allegations had been heard, but no formal letter or complaint was handed to the department on dropping Kannada. The post elicited responses from both the KDA and Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi demanding that the issue be taken seriously.
At last, breaking its silence over the matter, Sophia High School issued a statement saying that Kannada had not been dropped as a second language.
“As per the Kannada Language Learning Rules, 2017, we are teaching Kannada as a second language compulsorily to all our students as part of the educational curriculum. The details published in the media about the dropping of Kannada as a second language are false and far from the truth,” the school said, as per TNIE.
