After a candidate who appeared for the University Grants Commission (UGC) National Eligibility Test (NET) last week alleged “Hindi imposition” in the test, the Kannada Development Authority has taken up with the matter with the Centre.
In a strongly worded letter to the Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ as well as the Secretary of the Higher Education department and the chairman of the University Grants Commission, T.S. Nagabharana, chairman of KDA said that the candidate who was writing UGC NET faced difficulty in understanding some of the questions in English but was offered a translation only in Hindi
The Hindu last week had reported that the candidates had alleged that there was an option to get a translation of the questions in Hindi but not in any of the regional languages. The KDA in the letter has lodged its protest against the “discriminatory policy”.
It said that this was in violation of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. “A facility that is available for one of the languages in the 8th schedule should be available for other students in their own languages in the 8th schedule,” read the letter.
The KDA has urged the authorities to rectify this and submit a report in the next two months.