Ban on English in Bangalore Schools

More than 100,000 English-speaking children in India’s information technology capital of Bangalore will soon have to switch to schools offering lessons exclusively in a Dravidian regional language, following a crackdown on more than 2,000 English-medium institutions in the state of Karnataka, reports the Financial Times in this news article.

Excerpts:

The state government’s promise on Monday to enforce a widely flouted 1994 language policy requiring compulsory Kannada-medium education in primary schools reflects resentment at the influx of relatively wealthy English-speaking IT workers into Bangalore.

The crackdown has seen 800 schools stripped of their status and a further 1,500 face closure, according to an education department official.

This is definitely a backward step taken by the government. Hopefully a public debate will follow and oppose this move. Read the full article.