Madhu Bangarappa, Minister of Education, Karnataka.
Credit: DH File Photo
School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa on Friday clarified that he sought action against the headmaster and the Block Education Officer (BEO) and not the student who remarked about his Kannada knowledge, a day after he was criticised by opposition and others on various social media platforms.
The minister was speaking to the media about his directions to initiate action against the student who passed a comment saying ‘Education Minister doesn’t know Kannada’ during a recent virtual interaction with Pre University College students.
The minister said, “What authority do I have to take action against the student? He was controlled by his teachers, hence I directed the officials to take action against the headmaster and the BEO.”
Lashing out at Trollers, Madhu said, “Trollers cannot scare me. They are jobless, I don’t care for them. Being an education minister, I cannot allow such behaviour by students.”
Meanwhile defending his action, the minister questioned the trollers and the opposition, who are criticising him, what would have they done if they had such children at their homes?
“I would like to ask the trollers what would have they done if they had such mischievous kids at home? If your child does something wrong, will you not correct them? If it was my son, I would have asked him to correct himself. Is discipline not important? I am responsible even if my child does something wrong. That is why I reacted,” he said.
He even shared the appreciation he received from the chairman of the Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti and said, “I received a call from Council chairman who appreciated me for what I did.”