Tell government to register us: Schools to SC

 The Karnataka Unaided Schools’ Management Association (KUSMA) on Monday appealed to the Supreme Court to direct the state government to register all English primary  unaided schools in the state before October 31.

These schools are facing downslide in enrolment and rejection from banks for financial assistance as many among them remain unregistered due to the ongoing language policy issue. The policy mandates all the unaided English medium primary schools to teach in Kannada as the medium of instruction, which is rejected by these institutions.

KUSMA filed an interlocutory application before the apex court seeking immediate relief to make way for the registration of the schools all over the state.“The litigation concerning the language policy of the state has taken a huge toll on the educational institutions in Karnataka,” KUSMA said in the application to the apex court. “The only right that is now open to ‘English medium educational institutions’ imparting primary education in Karnataka is the ‘right to operate without a threat of closure from the government’.”

KUSMA submitted to the apex court that an educational institution, in order to function effectively, must claim rights far greater than a mere ‘right to not be closed down’.
The application stated that an educational institution, not validly registered under the statute, suffers denial of financial assistance from banks. “The continuing nature of litigation concerning the language policy of the State has resulted in fewer enrolments in schools not so registered,” it added.

Added to it, thousands of parents have offered advance notice of their intention to remove their children from unregistered schools from the next academic year, 2010-2011, the
application said.

The interlocutory application is likely to come up for hearing this week before the Supreme Court. The original appeal, pending before the apex court, is scheduled to come up for hearing on November 9. KUSMA has filed the application to speed up the issue, the association’s counsel KV Dhananjay told DNA.