BENGALURU: Amid ongoing controversy over teaching in English medium in 1,000 government schools from the next academic year, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said that it is up to the parents to decide if they want their children to study in English or Kannada medium schools.

Speaking at an interaction held at Vidhana Soudha on Monday, he said that the schools will have different sections. While one section will be taught in Kannada, the other section of the same class will be taught in English. “We have given the parents the option to decide whether the medium of instruction should be in English or Kannada,” he said.

Experts have expressed concerns over the decline in standards at various government schools in the state. Filmmaker Nagathihalli Chandrashekar, speaking on the status of a Kannada medium school adopted by him, said that the number of children in the school has dipped from 200 to a mere 14.

“Parents of children who earlier studied in these schools are paying around `30,000 to enrol their kids in English medium schools. During a recent meeting with these parents, they have urged us to provide English education in government schools,” he said.

Other experts, including K Marulasiddappa, also spoke about the pattern in the last 10 years during which the number of students attending private schools has increased.

Experts feel that more government schools are likely to be shut soon if this continues. Kumaraswamy said that the state government was also using corporate social responsibility funds to improve the standards of schools in the state.

On forest fire

Several environmentalists present at the venue expressed concerns over the recent forest fire and deforestation which is threatening the ecology of the Western Ghats. Mutthanna, former president of Coorg Wildlife Society, expressed concerns about commercialisation of land in Cauvery catchment area districts such as Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga and urged the CM to stop land conversions in all these districts.

Other activists raised concerns on the Bandipur forest fire and trees being cut to construct roads in the Western Ghats. To this, Kumaraswamy said, “Despite shortcomings and lack of personnel in the Forest Department, we have been able to control the fire in five to six days.

Officials say that the green cover will be restored in the affected region after a spell of rainfall.” He added that several regions of the world, including California, were facing such devastating fires.