From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Sep 12: After the rejection from the Supreme Court to Karnataka Government’s review petition on making Kannada as the mother tongue and compulsory medium of instruction in primary education, the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has now decided to urge the Narendra Modi-led Centre to bring a legislation giving primacy for respective regional languages in primary education.
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The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition filed by the government of Karnataka seeking a review of its ruling on the language in primary schools.
A Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha has dismissed the petition filed by the state government.
The State Government had filed a petition seeking the review of the apex court's decision.
The Supreme Court quashed the Karnataka government's 1994 language policy that made mother tongue or Kannada the compulsory language in primary schools.
The apex court had said the government cannot impose a mother tongue on linguistic minorities for the purpose of education and that the medium of instruction should be left to the children's guardians.
Karnataka’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra and the State’s Primary and Secondary Education Minister KimmaneRatnakar on Friday said the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would to write to Chief Ministers of all the states again seeking their support on the issue as it affects all the states.
The decision of the Chief Minister to write to his counterparts in other States was as promised earlier, the ministers said.
Most of the states have a similar stand of giving primacy for the state language as the medium of instruction in primary education.
The State Government would urge the Union Government to introduce an amendment to the Constitution to enable states to impart primary education in their respective languages, Ratnakar said.
"I will request the Chief Minister to hold a meeting of Kannada litterateurs, intellectuals and academicians to discuss the issue and take a decision on future course of action,” Ratnakar said.