High Court rules Kannada policy in schools as “unconstitutional”

Terming the Government order to enforce Kannada as medium of instruction in primary schools across Karnataka as “unconstitutional”, the High Court has allowed private schools to impart primary education in English or any language of their choice.

In a significant judgement, the full bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph has ruled that the private and unaided schools in Karnataka could not be compelled by the State Government to impart primary education in Kannada or mother tongue.

“The government policy compelling children studying in government recognized private schools to have primary education only in the mother tongue or the regional language Kannada is violative of the Constitution”, the High Court observed in its 318 page judgement delivered on Wednesday.

However, the High Court allowed the Government to make Kannada a compulsory medium of education in Government and Government-aided schools in the State.

“If the parents want their children to have primary education in English, they are not committing any crime. It is not illegal or opposed to public policy. The choice of medium of instruction is left to the parents and children. The decision of parents to impart education to their children in well-known international language like English cannot be bypassed, forgetting the hard realities of life”, the High Court observed.

The High Court order was received with much glee by Associated Managements of Government Recognized Unaided English Medium Primary and Secondary Schools Association, which had challenged the Government order on medium of instruction in primary schools. The petitioners included several linguistic and religious minorities.

“The verdict means the Government can no longer interfere with our work”, said G S Sharma, President of Karnataka Unaided School Managements Association, which is part of the Associated Managements that approached the High Court against the Government’s language policy.

The High Court order is also expected to render as invalid the Government order to de-recognize private schools for violating its language policy.
Ever since the Government’s language policy was announced in 1994, several petitions had been filed in the High Court challenging the Government order. It was only last year that the Full Bench of the High Court took up the issue and held marathon sessions spread over several weeks before coming out with a significant judgement on Wednesday.