The Hindu

Mangalore, May 19: Students who want to study Tulu as the third optional language in sixth standard in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi from the academic year 2010-11 are unlikely to get their textbook till the end of June.

It is because the Government is yet to finalise the syllabi and texts (lessons) even though primary schools are scheduled to re-open on May 28.

Registrar of Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy Chandrahasa Rai B informed that the draft of the syllabi was prepared at a meeting in Puttur on May 14. The Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) had convened the meeting. It was attended by the members of an advisory committee and textbook committee set up by the Government for teaching Tulu. In addition, the DSERT representatives were present in the meeting. The draft of the text is yet to be finalised, he said.

Rai said that once the Government approved the syllabi, the text will have to be finalised and approved. If these processes are expedited, the Government could print textbooks by June-end, he said.

The Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Dakshina Kannada, C. Chame Gowda said that the Government is yet to send guidelines regarding who should teach Tulu. Mr. Gowda said that the department will get to know the number of students willing to learn Tulu only after schools re-open on May 28.

President of the academy Palthady Ramakrishna Achar said that the Government issued an order on March 26 to teach Tulu as the third optional language from the sixth standard. According to the order its teaching should be restricted to Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

According to an assessment by the academy, 12,000 students from the two districts are interested in learning Tulu.

He said that the academy had suggested to the Government to print 8,000 textbooks initially. “Additional textbooks can be printed later, depending on the demand,” he said.

According to the preamble of the March 26 order, the Government has so far allowed teaching Konkani, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Hindi, Kannada and English as the third optional language in schools in the State.

It said that the academy has published 110 Tulu books in Kannada script since 1994.

When M.K. Seetharama Kulal was the president of the academy in 2007 a draft textbook was prepared for sixth standard by a 13-member committee set up by him. This was an initiative of the academy. According to Kulal, the draft textbook had been prepared as per the guidelines of the DSERT.