The politics of language in education is back on the agenda in the southern state of Karnataka (pop.67 million). On July 5, in his maiden budget speech, Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, also finance minister, announced the two-month-old Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition governments decision of introducing English medium education in 1,000 government schools, starting from kindergarten next June (2019). For the past three decades, English has been grudgingly taught as a spoken language and more recently (from 2014) as a subject in primary schools.
This decision has been prompted by a continuous exodus from the state governments 48,000 Kannada and other vernacular medium primaries to 1,900 private schools, which provide — or claim to provide — English-medium education. According to the Union HRD ministrys DISE (District Information System Education) data, between 2010-16 the number of students in government primaries/elementaries declined by 600,000 while aggregate enrolment in private schools increased by 700,000.

This landmark decision was welcomed by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson of Bangalore-based Biocon Ltd, Indias blue-chip biotech company. However, hours after her welcoming tweet, Mazumdar-Shaw was pressured to delete it by pro-Kannada culture groups which had succeeded in persuading successive state governments to ban the promotion of greenfield private English-medium schools for 20 years, until a 2014 Supreme Court judgement upheld a Karnataka high court verdict of 2008, and declared this ban unconstitutional and violative of the fundamental rights of parents to choose the medium of instruction of their children.

The Kannada language lobby and particularly the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), which is represented by a cabinet minister, has huge power and influence in the state. On July 7, two days after he announced the new governments English medium decision, chief minister Kumaraswamy was obliged to correct his decision and state that English will be taught only as a subject in government schools.

Proclaimed love for Kannada language and culture apart, the English versus Kannada mother tongue debate is an age-old controversy manufactured by pro-Kannada language chauvinists deeply involved in teacher recruitment, appointments and textbook writing and printing rackets. They need a captive market of school children.

Language is a politically volatile subject in India, says Gurumurthy Kasinathan, founder-director, IT for Change, a Bangalore-based NGO (estb.2000) which provides ICT (information communication technologies)-enabled teacher training in 5,080 government schools countrywide. However the chief ministers July 5 announcement was anyway meaningless because the government is ill-equipped to start 1,000 K-VIII English-medium government schools. It has to first invest in teacher education to improve teachers English proficiency and provide a resource-rich environment in government schools to make English teaching even as a subject effective, before considering English as a medium of instruction, says Kasinathan.

Karnatakas English versus Kannada/mother tongue controversy has been boiling for almost three decades. With the Supreme Court having decisively upheld the fundamental right of parents to choose the medium of instruction of their children, chief minister Kumaraswamy would do well to stand firm on the issue. Further prevarication on the medium of instruction debate will continue to blight the future prospects of millions of children from Karnatakas bottom-of-the-pyramid households, forced to attend government schools.

Sruthy Susan Ullas (Bangalore)