The Mysuru-based Kannada Kriya Samiti (KKS) has applauded Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s recent initiative of personally meeting President Droupadi Murmu to urge approval of the Free and Compulsory Education Bill (2015). The Bill proposes that primary education from grades one to five be delivered in students’ mother tongue.
According to a press statement by KKS General Secretary Sa Ra Sudarshan, although the Bill was approved by the Karnataka Governor during Siddaramaiah’s earlier tenure, it has faced repeated objections from central government officials, who returned it several times. “For nearly eight years, the State government did not offer any clarification. At one point, Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa even presented incorrect details in the Assembly, claiming that the Centre had rejected the Bill,” Sudarshan noted.
He further recalled that last year, the KKS, along with Kannada Geleyara Balaga of Bengaluru and Karnataka Vikasa Ranga, held a joint press conference with prominent writers and public figures to press for the Bill’s implementation. The Kannada Development Authority had also corresponded with the Education Department on the matter.
The KKS also expressed appreciation for the Centre’s decision to mandate mother tongue or state language as the medium of instruction in CBSE schools from pre-primary to class two, starting this academic year. Sudarshan commended the government’s preparation of textbooks in 22 Indian languages to support this policy.
The press release carried signatures of KKS President Ma Gu Sadanandaiah, Vice-Presidents Prakash and Manasa KR Nagar, Secretary LIC Siddappa, and Treasurer Ko Su Narasimhamurthy.