Govt can't impose mother tongue in primary schools: SC

SC had said that the issue involved in this case concerns the fundamental rights of not only the present generation but also the generations yet to be born

The Supreme court on Tuesday held the government cannot impose mother tongue on a linguistic minority for imparting primary education.

“State has no power to compel linguistic minority to impart primary education by compulsorily imposing a regional language,” said a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha.

The bench, also comprising justices A K Patnaik, S J Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and F M I Kalifulla, was hearing the case against two Karnataka government orders of 1994 making mother tongue or regional language compulsory for imparting education from class I to IV.

In July last year, a two-judge bench of the apex court had said its Constitution Bench would examine if the government could impose mother tongue or regional language as the medium of instruction at the primary education stage, as it had a far-reaching significance on children’s development. The court had said the issue involved concerns the fundamental rights of not only the present generation but generations yet to be born.

It had said the issue had to be referred to a larger bench as a two-judge bench of the court in 1993 had refused to interfere with a Karnataka government order specifying mother tongue Kannada as the medium of instruction at the primary school level and making it mandatory for every child.