Page 26 - EW September 2024

Education News

Hindi speakers an unequal advan- and directed member
tage in securing government employ- schools to celebrate
ment and in business and commerce. Independence Day
Therefore, there is a virtual consen- with the usual pomp
sus in the state that English which is and ceremony, the
‘neutral’ should remain the national minister assured the
language while children should also committee that a nod-
learn their mother tongue. al officer appointed by
Instead of accepting this status the education ministry
quo which has prevailed for over will coordinate with
half a century, since it was swept to KPMTCC president
power at the Centre in 2014 because C. Puttanna to discuss
of massive support in Hindi-speak- and resolve private
ing north Indian states, BJP has schools grievances.
reiterated the demand for instituting With the agitation
Hindi as the national language. De- KPMTCC protest. D. Shashi Kumar (centre) called off, member
spite the Supreme Court ruling that schools observed In-
parents are free to choose the me- This has forced private schools to dependence Day as usual.
dium of instruction of their children initiate legal action from time to time. he memorandum presented to the
in primary education, NEP 2020 On August 6, 11 private unaided/inde- Tminister lists 14 major grievances
dutifully endorses the three language pendent schools’ associations grouped of private unaided (financially inde-
learning formula in school education. under the banner of Karnataka Pri- pendent) schools which have piled up
This is the main reason why Tamil vate School Managements, Teaching over the years. Among them: different
Nadu’s DMK government — with the & Non-Teaching Staff Coordination fire safety, minimum infrastructure,
support of opposition parties — has Committee (KPMTCC) announced land conversion and other rules for
rejected NEP 2020. that August 15 would be observed as schools established before 2018 when
Now with the Centre denying the ‘Black Independence Day’ to protest the state government issued a general
state government its rightful share against “open, continuous and unin- circular laying down norms for newly-
of education funding (decreed by the terrupted” harassment of private un- promoted private schools.
Finance Commission), the BJP/NDA aided schools by various government A major demand of KPMTCC is
government has sowed the seeds of a departments especially of the educa- for 620 private unaided schools de-
constitutional crisis. In this connec- tion ministry. KPMTCC alleged that clared “illegal” for having additional
tion, it’s pertinent to recall that in numerous government departments ‘sections’ than permitted in February
1965 when Hindi was declared the — fire safety, public works, revenue, 2023, to be regularised. The memo-
national language, widespread riot- child rights, and police — have been randum also demanded that the syl-
ing broke out in Tamil Nadu and the continuously interrupting their op- labus of schools affiliated with the
state threatened to secede from the erations by demanding bribes for al- Karnataka state board be brought on
Union of India. leged infringements of the law and by a par with the CBSE and CISCE, and
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) way of demanding title, licences and a textbooks also be revised, to match
plethora of documents. standards of these two national
KARNATAKA Confronted with the prospect of boards. Another major demand in the
Private schools revolt severe embarrassment to the state’s 14-point memorandum is that the ac-
one-year-old Congress government,
creditation renewal period be restored
education minister Madhu Banga- to once in ten years instead of annu-
nable or unwilling to improve rappa — famously described as MIA ally, to prevent excessive paper work
infrastructure and/or learning (missing in action) minister — called and demand for illegal gratification
Uoutcomes in the state’s 49,679 a three-hour meeting with KPMTCC (described as “office expenses”) which
government schools, officials of Kar- on August 13, smoothing their rep- has become normative.
nataka’s education ministry have con- resentatives’ ruffled feathers after In an unexplained about-turn,
tinuously targeted the state’s 19,650 which the protest was called off. But since 2022 the education ministry has
private schools for alleged violation of not without the association presenting been demanding that private schools
rules and regulations under a plethora the minister with a 14-point memo- renew their accreditation annually in-
of Acts of Parliament (RTE Act, 2009, randum detailing the grievances of stead of every ten years. “This is very
NEP 2020) and of state government private unaided schools. On condi- cumbersome for schools because of
circulars and orders. tion that KPMTCC called off its protest the heavy paper work involved and

26 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2024