K'taka Govt firm on introducing English in Kannada medium schools

Dharwad, Oct 16 (UNI) Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti today clarified that the Government was firm on its decision to teach English as a subject in Kannada medium schools from first standard, without disturbing the primacy of Kannada.

Talking to newspersons here, he said that as per the Cabinet decision, English would be introduced as a subject from standard one to four, but there would not be any examination on the subject. Only oral teaching in English would be introduced.

To a question, the Minister said he was ready to discuss with litterateurs and the public openly on the Government stand. The Government had already ordered English medium schools and linguistic minority schools to introduce Kannada as a subject. A letter had also been written to the Centre to introduce Kannada as a subject from standard one at CBSE schools.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the Maharashtra Government closing Kannada schools in that State, Mr Horatti said Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy would soon discuss the issue with his Maharashtra counterpart. ''The Maharashtra Government should drop its decision of closing Kannada schools. Otherwise, Karnataka will also be forced to close down Marathi schools,'' he cautioned.

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