KDA Chairman demands early implementation of SEP

Kannada Development Authority (KDA) Chairman Prof. Purushotham Bilimale has demanded that the State government implement the new proposed State Education Policy (SEP) at the earliest.

In a letter written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and concerned education ministers of the state, he said that the SEP Commission had given a “very comprehensive” education policy, in a first-of-its-kind exercise. “If the report is implemented properly, the state’s education sector will change radically over the next decade,” he said.

Further, he stated that several studies have confirmed that the three-language formula forcibly imposes Hindi and does not help improve the cognitive and academic ability of students. “In this context, the SEP report, which has recommended a two-language policy with Kannada and English for the State, is a very timely step,” Prof. Bilimale said.

“It is important to note that the commission had not ignored non-Kannada and non-English languages while recommending a two-language policy. The report states that Kannada and English languages will remain mandatory as the first or second language, and that interested students will be allowed to learn their mother tongue as a third language,” he explained, adding that this was much needed in “today’s complex linguistic environment”. 

“The recommendations of the SEP are mainly based on the Constitution of India, the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act, 2022, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, The Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015 and all aspects of the National Education Policy 1968, 1986, 1992 and 2020, among other policies and laws. This is a constitutionally sound policy and can serve as a model education policy for the country,” he said, demanding its early implementation.