Date:08/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/08/stories/2006060811770400.htm

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Karnataka - Bangalore

Decision on three-language policy this month: Horatti

Staff Reporter

Delegation seeks introduction of English from first standard

Schools run by minorities will have to teach Kannada from third standard
CBSE schools have agreed to teach Kannada

Teachers in government schools to be trained to give English lessons

Basavaraj S. Horatti

BANGALORE: Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S. Horatti on Wednesday said the Cabinet would decide later this month the issue of introducing the three-language policy to teach English, Kannada and the mother tongue at the primary school level.

The policy was being thought of to help rural and poor children compete with those who learn English from first standard.

Speaking to presspersons after a meeting with a delegation of the Federation of Educationists and Social Organisations, Mr. Horatti said the Cabinet would discuss the federation's demand to introduce English from first standard in government schools and Kannada from first standard in English-medium schools from the current academic year.

He said schools run by minorities teaching in the mother tongue, such as Urdu, would have to teach Kannada from third standard. Earlier, teaching of Kannada was optional. It would be made mandatory to teach the language from third standard, he added.

Mr. Horatti said school managements which wanted to adopted the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) syllabus had been permitted to do so after they had given an undertaking that they would teach Kannada from first standard.

Asked whether it was possible for teachers to teach English without preparation, the Minister said they would be trained.

A memorandum signed by A. Laxmisagar, former Law Minister and MP, and others said that introduction of English from first standard in government schools would help children from poor families and those from village overcome inferiority complex.

They said that of four lakh children who wrote the SSLC examination last year, 1.9 lakh children who had studied in the Kannada medium failed in English. The children were not able to compete with those who began learning English from first standard. English had been introduced in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra at the primary level. Proficiency in English was important for getting jobs in the private sector, they said. The memorandum pointed out that the courts had struck down the Government Order awarding grace marks to students from villages and said it was necessary to equip them to compete with students from cities.