Bengaluru: More than 5,000 private schools in the state have decided to knock on the doors of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), seeking permission to start English medium from STD I itself.
Presently, as per the new ‘renewal and registration’ policy adopted by the DPI, private schools are not allowed to run English medium between I STD and V STD.
“On Wednesday, the state high court has directed the DPI to process an application filed by a school about starting English medium instruction from Std I itself.
We have submitted several representations seeking permission to start English medium with Kannada as the First language. But till now DPI has not replied,” said Mr. D Shashikumar, general secretary, KAMS.
“High Court as well as the Supreme Court have struck down the language policy of the state government. Unfortunately, DPI is now pursuing delaying tactics. We have Kannada as the first language. But in the name of language policy, curative application, DPI is not allowing the schools to start English medium from Std I,” he charged.
“As the government has not bothered to resolve the issues arising after the Supreme Court verdict on language policy, now the government should act immediately to solve the tangle caused by unauthorized schools.” He continued, “The government is responsible for creating these unauthorised schools over a period of time in the name of language policy. After several attempts from representatives of the association, the language policy is still a neglected one,” he alleged.
