Archive for the 'Politics & Law' Category

If the parents want their children to have primary education in English, they are not committing any crime. It is not illegal or opposed to public policy. The choice of medium of instruction is left to the parents and children. The decision of parents to impart education to their children in well-known international language like English cannot be bypassed, forgetting the hard realities of life [emphasis mine]

– Karnataka High Court in a recent Judgment

Every once in a while a news item comes along that brightens up your day. Today was that day.

For sometime now, about 3,000 unaided (don’t get a penny from the government)  schools in Karnataka have been facing the threat of closure. Their only crime: having the temerity of using English as the primary medium of instruction. That’s all.

The cultural police of Karnataka decided way back in 1994 that children in primary and secondary schools could only be taught in Kannada and some other Indian languages like Urdu, Hindi, Telugu etc. English was out. This was probably justified on grounds of foreign cultural “invasion”, erosion of values, decline of Indian languages and so on. This wide ranging order affected all the schools that had been teaching English to mostly poor little toddlers. The rich were not affected because they already sent their kids to posh and long established English Medium CBSE/ICSE schools that were outside the direct ambit of the order. Now its not hard to understand why poor Indian parents are desperate that their children learn English and why this was just so bad for all the school children in Karnataka.

The Indian Constitution, on even a cursory reading, gives its citizens linguistic freedom and the right to pursue professions and callings relatively unmolested. So the Karnataka government couldn’t really stop children from studying in English. Especially if the school they went to did not get any funding from the state. This was lost on the minister who managed to pass such a jingoistic order way back in 1994. If you have read Yes, Prime Minister you will realize that this is precisely the kind of initiative that a politician cannot oppose in public. It is like cow slaughter or banning dance bars. How many politicians will be able to comfortably come out in public and say that people who don’t believe that the cow is sacred should be able to eat beef? Or that the ban on dance bars is unfair? Similarly, this was one of those orders that just got notified and stayed on the rule books because no local politician could be seen to oppose it. Elections are fought on 3-4% swings and you’d rather not take a stand and risk irritating the “Sons of Soil” constituency which is quite strong in Karnataka. Given that it was also a simple government order, and not a Bill, there was no room for sabotage in the legislature, during which each politician would have publicly sworn their commitment to Kannada and then just let the bill die an easy death in some backroom (most politicians can be pretty rational people). This brings me to another issue on which I must vent: our parliamentary system is so weak and our executive so strong that we simply keep passing boilerplate legislation through which you can drive a truck by issuing notifications, exemptions, circulars and other such bureaucratic devices cheerfully called “delegated legislation.” The American Congress on the other hand zealously guards its domain and frames laws so specifically that no scheming additional-joint-provisional-whatever-secretary and his evil overlord minister can pass wide ranging policy changes. This way stupid initiatives die a silent death in a parliamentary committee instead of passing out unimpeded through the executive order route (as it probably did in this case).

Thankfully, due to the inherent creakiness of the Indian state and our lack of commitment to real action, the implementation of the Karnataka order has been fitful. Some schools kept teaching English on the sly. Every time a government in Bangalore reached new lows it would resurrect “safe” issues like “Tamils are stealing our water”, “Farmers are in Danger” and in this case “Ban English” from the classroom. They now had the 1994 government order handy to threaten schools with “derecognition” (a term that has acquired a particularly Indian feel to it).

Court cases against this government order were filed way back in 1994 in the High Court of Karnataka by the aggrieved English medium schools. After mulling on it until the cud became rancid and fermented our Justices have finally said in 2008 that the government order is against the Indian constitution. Phew! It took 14 years. By the way, the timing of the judgment should not be seen as a coincidence. This judgment has come soon after the inward looking Gowda & Co lost power in Karnataka. Perhaps the Noble Justices thought that delivering the “landmark” judgment under the BJP government would be safer because the party would not seriously pursue an appeal in the Supreme Court. And this would ultimately keep the legacy of these Judges alive. But don’t worry, this judgment too will go on automatic appeal to the Supreme Court to save (future) ass on all sides. And maybe allow some previously unappreciated Supreme Court Justice to make his own definitive “landmark judgment.” After which, the poor High Court Justices’ 319 page judgment will no longer be read, studied or referred to in the press. Dammit. High Court Justices want their own legacy too!

Anyways, this curious political dance has come to an end and children can finally go back to learning their A, B, Cs in Karnataka. Post High Court decision, there will probably be another round of bribe taking from “renegade” English schools in Karnataka. Soon they will be “regularised” (another word that Indians have adopted as their own. Its actually a sister term to derecognition. Derecognition is the older sibling because its threat always comes before eventual “regularisation”). Now, the appeal in the Supreme Court will only be pursued half-seriously to act as a lever for school managements who refuse to pay up regularisation “fees.” Meanwhile, the next landmark judgment from the Supreme Court heads our way a few years from now. That judgment will essentially say the same thing as the Karnataka High Court one, but with greater literary flourish, a greater anguish for the “weaker sections of society” who desire social mobility through English and a few more pages of ink (319 being the lower limit).

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Resources for the non-jaded and eager.

[Merinews] Can government impose the medium of instruction?

The above article has some nice background information

[The Telegraph, Calcutta] Court speaks up for language right

[Zeenews] Karnataka HC order on Govt`s order on languages in schools

[Sahilonline] Private schools free to choose medium of instruction

[Khaleej Times] HC trashes Kannada as medium of instruction

[The Hindu] Primary education only in mother tongue violative of the Constitution: HC

[NetIndia 123] Primary education only in mother tongue violative of the Constitution: HC