Bengaluru school rape: Behind schools’ violations, the real culprit is the state!
28 Oct 2014 10:23 AM IST
This May, SC upheld Karnataka High Court on English as medium of instruction
Parents at Orchids International School at Jalahalli in Bengaluru on Monday pushing for students of Class 6 and 7 to also be allowed to attend classes - R. Samuel
Bengaluru: It has taken the violation of an innocent child for the issue of the Karnataka government, ignoring the May 6, 2014 ruling by the constitutional bench of Supreme Court - which struck down the Government of Karnataka order imposing Kannada language as the medium of instruction in all primary schools - to come up. The police swiftly homed in on the alleged rapist who preyed on the three and a half year- old student of Orchids, The International School and arrested him.
But, either by accident or design, the Department of Public Instruction flagged the fact that Orchids as well as 200 other schools in the city and 14,000 across the state had been given licenses to run Kannada medium primary schools but were operating them as English medium. What they failed to come clean on, was the real violation - the Department of Public Instruction had issued licenses to these 14,000 schools, despite the Supreme Court upholding the High Court order which struck down the government order to enforce Kannada as the medium of instruction.
Many school owners have said to Deccan Chronicle that they were under the impression that only licenses for Kannada medium schools could be issued as the matter had not been resolved in court. Academicians and officers of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) point out that they are not alone in this and most private unaided schools in the state are guilty of ignoring the policy as well.
This what TEAM DC has found: When Mr. Veerappa M Moily was the Chief Minister of the state, his government issued an order dated 29.04.1994 stating the medium of instruction should be mother tongue or Kannada, with effect from the academic year 1994-95 in all Government recognized schools in classes 1 to 4. This was later increased to class V.
Later the same year in '94, private school managements moved the High Court through a writ petition. A full bench of the Karnataka High Court in its common judgment dated July 2, 2008 quashed the government policy. When BS Yeddyurappa led BJP government came to power, it moved the Supreme Court seeking to enforce Kannada as the medium of instruction. The top court referred the case to a constitutional bench.
On May 6, 2014 the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court struck down the Government of Karnataka (GoK) order imposing Kannada language as the medium of instruction in all primary schools. State legislative council deputy chairman and MLC, Puttanna, however, feels DPI officials are themselves responsible for the situation. "BEO office staff are even stronger than MLAs. They take decisions on a whim and a fancy. When all private schools give it in writing to the state government that they will follow Kannada medium between classes I to V, they cannot violate this without the help of the BEO office staff. Corruption in the education department is to blame," he charged, unaware that the law does not allow such schools in the first place.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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