Karnataka:
The Supreme Court has said in an interim order that private schools in Karnataka can teach in English from the 1st to the 4th standard.
The Karnataka government had made the mother tongue the compulsory language of instruction for the first four grades for all schools opened from 1994. This was successfully challenged in the High Court after which the state government approached the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice observed during the hearing that it is difficult to survive with the mother tongue only.
"It is easy to say mother tongue is important. How do we survive in this world? Parents do not want their children to be taught in their mother tongue. It is a question of survival. English medium students get through in entrance exams and get admitted in engineering and medical colleges. But students who have studied in their mother tongue as a medium fare poorly," he said.
The final hearing will take place in the last week of August.
The Karnataka government had made the mother tongue the compulsory language of instruction for the first four grades for all schools opened from 1994. This was successfully challenged in the High Court after which the state government approached the Supreme Court.
The Chief Justice observed during the hearing that it is difficult to survive with the mother tongue only.
"It is easy to say mother tongue is important. How do we survive in this world? Parents do not want their children to be taught in their mother tongue. It is a question of survival. English medium students get through in entrance exams and get admitted in engineering and medical colleges. But students who have studied in their mother tongue as a medium fare poorly," he said.
The final hearing will take place in the last week of August.
