KDA to edu dept: Address schools’ concerns on Kannada mandate

Bengaluru: The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has written to the department of school education and literacy, asking it to resolve the practical problems faced by schools in the implementation of the Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015.
The Act mandates that Kannada should be taught as first or second language in all schools in the state from 2017.
The Times of India published a report — ‘CBSE schools worried as mandatory second language Kannada exam nears' — in these columns on Tuesday, on how schools who have to register students in class 9 for the boards next year are concerned for the late joiners. Some have also expressed issues with the textbooks CBSE is offering for the second-language paper.
In his letter, KDA chairman Purushottam Bilimale slammed the department for its inaction in this regard. KDA had a meeting last Nov regarding the same issue.
"Last Nov, despite holding a long meeting with education department officials and suggesting resolving the practical problems faced in the proper implementation of the Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015, the school education department hasn't taken any action so far. We knew this issue would come up for schools, and we therefore asked them to initiate action to resolve them as soon as possible. The response of the department officials hasn't been promising," he said.
"Schools are responsible for teaching the state govt's Kannada first or second language textbook to class 9 and 10 children, and since the central board exams are held, it is the policy decisions of the boards concerned to follow the curriculum set by Karnataka. KDA suggested three months ago that the school education department should coordinate with the boards concerned in this regard, but a compliance report is yet to come," he said.
He asked the department to immediately take action to ensure proper implementation of the Act.