Land clause comes handy for government now after giving nod for English medium schools

BENGALURU:Madhav Sosale's Good Scholar School in BSK III stage is situated on a 2,500sqft land. Without an acre of land to show, his school will not get the government permission to run an English-medium school.

The Department of Public Instruction has sought refuge under the new rule which requires schools under the city municipal corporation limits to own half an acre for classes 1-8 or a full acre for classes 1-10 in English medium. This applies exclusively for schools that began academic activities after 2009.

“My school was registered to start in 2009 but I fail to understand why this is being treated as a new school. Does this mean a school started in 2008 is old? Most schools in Bengaluru are facing vertical growth due to non-availability of land. They cannot refuse English-medium permission on this lone premise,“ insisted Sosale, a trustee at Good Scholar School that has 150 children studying in classes 1-7.

The department has permitted 428 schools in Bengaluru started after 1994 to switch to English medium, which, on paper for the past two decades, were actually permitted to run as Kannada schools.

“As of now, we are giving English-medium permission to schools that were a part of the petition before the High Court. For the new schools, we are collecting information,“ Director (Primary Education) K Anand said.It was in 2009 that the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into force, so minimum infrastructure (land requirement in this case) is being checked for schools started after 2009, an education official said.

The Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), the petitioner in the landmark Supreme Court verdict in May last year in which it ruled that medium of instruction was the prerogative of parents, plans to challenge this legally.

“Authorities are trying to create confusion again. RTE was implemented in Karnataka only in 2012, so their argument is wrong,“ said D Shashi Kumar, organising secretary , KAMS.