New Delhi

Supreme Court notice to schools on medium of instruction

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Associated Managements of Government Recognised Unaided English Medium Primary and Secondary Schools Association and others on a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Karnataka against a High Court judgment quashing the 1994 language policy of compelling the schools to impart primary education to students only in their mother tongue, Kannada.

A three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice J.M. Panchal issued notice returnable in six weeks on the main SLP as well as in the application seeking stay of the High Court judgment.

The Full Bench of the High Court had held that private and unaided schools within the State could not be compelled to impart primary education to students only in their mother tongue or in the regional language (in this case Kannada).

As per the policy in the primary school (1st standard to 4th standard), the medium of instruction shall be one in the mother tongue of the child or in Kannada.

The policy recognises eight languages as mother tongue — Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi, Urdu and English.

Senior counsel P.P. Rao, appearing for the State, submitted that the policy which remained in force for 14 years should be allowed to continue and he sought an interim stay of the High Court judgment. The stay was opposed by counsel for the schools and other respondents.

When Mr. Rao argued that imparting education only in the mother tongue of the child would be beneficial to the child, the Chief Justice told Mr. Rao: “Parents have a right to decide what should be the medium of instruction for their children. You cannot compel them to choose a particular language. We are in the middle of the year and admissions in schools would have been completed. Staying the judgment would cause problems for students and parents.”

The State said the SLP raised important questions of law, including whether the High Court was in error in holding that the parent and the child had a fundamental right of the choice of medium of instruction at primary level as against the policy decision taken in larger national and educational interest of the children.

It sought quashing of the impugned judgment dated July 2 and an interim stay of its operation.

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