To save Kannada medium schools and to ensure they are in match with the latest language-related developments, a decision has been made that government model schools in Karnataka will impart spoken English lessons to students from the primary level. At Kannada Sahitya Parishad’s panel discussion, Minister for primary and secondary education BC Nagesh informed that the suggestion had come from Kannada writer SL Bhyrappa.
The Minister further said, “During budget, the government announced to introduce one model school at every gram panchayat level and there apart from Kannada, spoken English will also be given importance. People’s fondness for enrolling their children in English medium private schools with heavy fee burden has led to the closure of Kannada schools. It is the need of the hour today to introduce and give importance to the English language in government schools.” In this vein, through dual-level textbooks, math and environmental science books of classes 1 to 4 will have text in Kannada and in English as well- if one page will be in Kannada, the other will be in English language, he added.