Bengaluru: The State Education Policy has recommended a two-language policy and Kannada/mother tongue as the medium of instruction till class 5.A committee headed by former UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat submitted the policy — promised by Congress in its manifesto ahead of 2023 assembly polls — to CM Siddaramaiah Friday. The SEP, once accepted, will replace National Education Policy in the state released by the Centre in 2021.SEP mandates Kannada or mother tongue as the medium of instruction until class 5 and preferably till class 12. It recommends a two-language policy comprising English and Kannada/mother tongue. To support the policy, teachers must train in bilingual teaching methods, and a dedicated language teaching centre should be established, it says.The policy is in tune with Siddaramaiah’s stand on supporting two-language policy after a row erupted in Maharashtra more than a month ago.Pre-NEP policy will continue in higher education. Bachelor’s and master’s programmes will be three and two years, respectively. In professional education, it will be four and two. Here too, a second language should be made mandatory, including Kannada/English or a foreign language.Education modelFurther, the policy has proposed a 2+8+4 model for school education — 2 years of pre-primary, 8 years of elementary and 4 years of secondary education — deviating from National Education Policy’s 5+3+3+4 structure. The model is based on Right to Education’s definition of elementary school.Karnataka currently has primary schools with classes 1-5, higher primaries with classes 1-7, and high schools with classes 8-10. The policy is likely to call for restructuring this system.Admission ageThe policy stresses retaining small schools to ensure access and equity, and avoiding arbitrary closures. It recommends standardising admission age for class 1 to 6 years (±3 months), replacing the current rule requiring children to be 6 by June 1.To strengthen early childhood care and education (ECCE), the policy proposes attaching two-year pre-primary programmes to existing primary schools, forming an ECCE council, and bringing private pre-schools under a regulatory framework. The Right to Education Act’s coverage should be extended in phases to all children aged 4 to 18, up from the current limit of class 8.Localise contentThe policy calls for ending reliance on NCERT textbooks, localising subject content and creating a comprehensive curriculum for school education with strong foundational learning up to class 5, emphasising values, sustainability and holistic development. It seeks to discourage privatisation, improve public schools to Kendriya Vidyalaya standards, strictly enforce fee regulations and ensure compliance with economically backward sections’ quota obligations. A dedicated regulatory body for private schools has been proposed.Value educationConstitutional value education should be compulsory, with values from the preamble, fundamental rights, fundamental duties and directive principles embedded in the curriculum. The policy recommends setting up a Karnataka State Open Schooling System (KIOS) and developing a Kannada-centric curriculum and digital content.It also calls for allocating 3% of the gross state domestic product specifically for school education and raising the sector’s share to 30% of the state’s annual budget.
