Famous victory for English in Karnataka

On July 2, a three-judge bench of the Karnataka high court unanimously struck down a 1994 government order mandating Kannada or mother tongue as the medium of instruction in primary school as unconstitutional. For millions of children aspiring for English language fluency, it could be a life-changing verdict. Summiya Yasmeen reports Fourteen years on, 27 writ petitions and over a hundred court hearings later, the cloud of government-created confu-sion looming over private primary schools about the usage of English as a medium of instruction in the southern state of Karnataka (pop.57 million) has been blown away by the states high court. In a historic judgement delivered on July 2 in Associated Managements of (Government Recognised Unaided English Medium) Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) vs. State of Karnataka & Ors (Writ Petition No. 14363/1994), a three-judge bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and comprising Justices Manjula Chellur and N. Kumar ruled that a state government order issued in 1994 mandating Kannada or the mother tongue as the compulsory medium of instruction in all primary schools (classes I-V) statewide, is violative of the fundamental rights of the promoters/owners of Karnatakas 11,954 unaided or independent primary schools. The long-awaited judgement in the writ petition filed by KAMS and 26 other petitioners in 1994 upheld the fundamental right of the parent and the child to opt for a medium of instruction of their choice. For 20 million children in the state aspiring for fluency in the English language which as everyone — except benighted politicians with subnationalist aspirations — knows is the passport to the best jobs in the rapidly globalising Indian economy, it could well be a life-changing verdict. Delivering the unanimous verdict of the three-judge bench in an inspiringly drafted 318-page judgement, Justice N. Kumar struck down the governments language policy as enunciated in its order dated April 29, 1994 compelling primary school children to study in the Kannada medium or the mother tongue in unaided private schools as unconstitutional. The government policy to have mother tongue or regional language as the medium of instruction at the primary level is valid and legal, in the case of schools run or aided by the State. But, the government policy compelling children studying in other government recognised schools to have primary education only in the mother tongue is violative of Articles 19(1)(g), 26 and 30 (1) of the Constitution of India… The choice of medium of instruction is that of the child and it should be left to the parents of the child. It is the element of compulsion which is frowned upon. It is arbitrary. It offends fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens of this country… If parents want their children to have primary education in English medium, they are not committing any crime. It is not illegal. It is not opposed to public policy, ruled the court. The full bench thus quashed clauses (2), (3), (6) and (8) of the government order prohibiting all unaided…