B S Ramesh/The Hindu

Bangalore, Apr 27: The State Government held a meeting under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Sudhakar Rao, to discuss the issue of medium of instruction in schools.

The meeting discussed the July 2, 2008 order of the Full Bench of Karnataka High Court which upheld the right of children and their parents to choose the medium of instruction. The Full Bench had struck down the contention of the State that it had the right to prescribe the medium of instruction.

So far, 1365 schools from Bangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga and Dharwad have sought permission to start English medium schools.

The jurisdictional Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) had given endorsements to 1,362 schools refusing permission.

The meeting was told that contempt proceedings could be filed against officials of the Education Department if they continued to issue endorsements refusing permission to start English medium schools.

The meeting resolved to request the Karnataka’s advocate in the Supreme Court, Sanjay Hedge, to file an application in the Apex Court seeking a stay on the High Court judgment.

The meeting decided against giving in to the demands of private school managements.

It also decided to ask a senior advocate to handle the State’s case in the Supreme Court.