Why bring politics into education: Karnataka HC asks govt

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court recently reprimanded the government for politicising the issue of implementing Kannada under the New Education Policy (NEP). The high court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on Thursday. “The government brought up some issues after which the court cautioned it,” said Dr Shridhara Bhat, head of the Sanskrit department at SDM College, Ujire, and part of Samskrita Bharati (Karnataka) Trust, who is one of the petitioners.

He also said that over a hundred students had sent letters to the government expressing their dissatisfaction over the implementation of Kannada under NEP. But the state government claims that four Sanskrit organisations that have filed a PIL filed before the Karnataka High Court are doing so to promote their personal interests.

“More than a hundred students from multiple regions and categories had sent letters to the education department, which were returned without acknowledgement,” said Dr Bhat. A number of language teachers’ associations too had sent letters to the government, pointing out that the implementation would lead to havoc, he added.

On Thursday, the court said that it might order a survey to find out how many students have dropped out due to implementation of Kannada. The government has filed a number of objections, seeking dismissal of the petition. Among them, it has alleged that the petitioners have a private interest in the matter and no students or affected people had approached the court directly. “They want the students, who are unable to pay legal fees, to approach the court directly,” said Dr Bhat. He mentioned that the petitioners are small-time lecturers, who are pursuing the case by paying from their pockets.