Karnataka: Minister for action on schools refusing to teach Kannada

Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj S Tangadagi has urged School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa to initiate action against private schools that are not teaching Kannada as second language.

The Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015, requires schools to teach Kannada as either first or second language.

Following a recent incident in which a prominent CBSE school in Bengaluru reportedly decided to drop teaching Kannada from Class 8 and asked parents to sign a petition that went viral on social media, Tangadagi raised the issue.

According to Tangadagi, some schools and non-Kannada parents are of the opinion that Kannada is not required for their children. "It is learnt that a set of non-Kannadiga parents have communicated to the school that there is no need for their kids to learn Kannada. Following this, the school initiated measures to drop Kannada and decided to submit the petition signed by parents to the department of school education," he said.

Expressing concern over the issue, the minister mentioned that the particular school is even ready for a legal battle if the department imposes Kannada as the second language.

"We should not let schools find reasons to do away with teaching Kannada. I urge you to consider this seriously and initiate stringent measures against such schools," he said.