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Karnataka
Teach English in Kannada medium schools, says writer
| ‘Kannada schools are on the verge of closure as they are losing students year after year’ |
HONOURING: Hampa Nagarajaiah being taken in procession for the Alva’s Nudisiri in Moodbidri on Friday.
MOODBIDRI (Dakshina Kannada): President of the sixth annual edition of “Alva’s Nudisiri”, a Kannada literary and cultural convention, and renowned Kannada writer Hampa Nagarajaiah has stressed the need to teach English in all Kannada-medium schools to prevent migration of students to English-medium schools.
Speaking at the inauguration of the three-day convention here on Friday he said that such a measure would save Kannada-medium schools from closure.
Notwithstanding the measures such as midday meal, distribution of bicycles, uniforms, textbooks, bags and free education in Kannada-medium schools, these schools are losing students year after year. Mr. Nagarajaiahsaid that studying in English-medium schools was considered a prestige issue now. If the situation were to continue, Kannada-medium schools might have to be closed down. Even if a few students were willing to study in Kannada medium, there would not be schools offering education in that medium. Extinction of a language meant disappearance of a culture, Mr. Nagarajaiah said.
Kannada had survived for over 2,500 years despite “many onslaughts”. There was a need to improve the infrastructure and standards in Kannada-medium schools to attract students.
The State Government should release at least Rs. 5 crore for the World Tulu Conference to be held at Ujire in Dakshina Kannada next month, he said. Senior poet N.S. Laxminarayana Bhatta, who inaugurated the conference, recalled the history of religious tolerance of Kannada-speaking people. Earlier, the president of the conference was brought to the venue in a grand procession.
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