The government has issued closure notices to 1,416 schools over the past month and has proposed to retrench students from these schools to Kannada government and private schools, when schools re-open after a Dussehra break. The schools are being shutdown for violating a 1994 government notification that made it mandatory for all new schools to use Kannada as the medium of instruction.

“We have been forced to take action to implement the language policy after the schools ignored warning notices,’’ Kumaraswamy said. The government has come up with no plans for the 2. 73 lakh students.

Perhaps the lone voice of difference in the government is that of a man who did not send his children to English-medium schools. “The students must not be put through this in the middle of the academic year. Going to a good Kannada school is not a handicap, but knowing English gives children better opportunities in the liberalised world,’’ says Medical Education Minister Dr V S Acharya whose five children have been educated in Kannada-medium schools.

His colleagues who sent their children to English schools are: Public Works and Energy Minister H D Revanna, Minister for Revenue Jagadish Shettar, Transport Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, Labour and Minority Welfare Minister Iqbal Ansari, Health Minister R Ashok, Industries Minister Katta Subramanyam Naidu, Science and Technology Minister Ramachandra Gowda, Housing Minister D T Jayakumar, Forest Minister C Chenigappa, Tourism Minister B Sriramulu, Wakf Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and Minister for Food Govind Karjol.

... contd.