Hassan, Feb 2: (DHNS) Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Sunday the Supreme Court order on the mother tongue as the medium of instruction was detrimental to not only Kannada, but also other regional languages in the country.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 81st Kannada Sahitya Sammelana here.

The chief minister said that the regional languages should be supreme and should become the medium of instruction in their respective states.

Siddaramaiah said that under the federal structure, there was room for learning other languages, but at the same time preserving the autonomy of the local language.

He said that the State would initiate steps for making Kannada the medium of instruction from class I to class V, by way of amending the Right to Education Act, 2012.

He said that he would take a delegation of all party leaders to meet the prime minister on the issue of making the mother tongue as the medium of instruction.

Siddaramaiah said that he had also written to the chief ministers of other states in this regard.

The chief minister said that the private educational institutions were harming the interests of Kannada through their push for English.

Siddaramaiah promised the gathering that the government would not interfere n the functioning of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, in keeping with the tradition since its inception on May 3, 1915.