SC says no imposing mother tongue at primary level

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a state government cannot insist that the medium of instruction at the primary level be the mother tongue only.

A five-judge bench, led by CJI R.M. Lodha, said this while upholding a Karnataka high court order which had disallowed the state for imposing Kannada at the primary level in all schools in the state, including minority, unaided and non-Kannada schools.

Karnataka had laid down in 1994 that the medium of instruction in all primary schools should be either Kannada or the child's mother tongue. Thus was later struck down by the high court in July 2011.

The top court on Tuesday also ruled that such an executive order was violative of a child's fundamental right to study in the medium of his choice.