Hindi speakers for tour: Karnataka Government to act against officials

BENGALURU: Hours after TOI reported about the PU department’s instruction to colleges to select only Hindi-speaking students for a five-day tour to Uttarakhand, primary education minister BC Nagesh said the government will initiate action against officials who issued the direction.

Fifty students — 25 from high school and 25 from PU — from Karnataka will be sent to Uttarakhand under Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav-Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme. Similarly, students from the northern state will travel to Karnataka. Both teams will explore socio-cultural aspects of their host state.

The PU department had instructed colleges to select students who speak Hindi for this expedition. An irked Kannada Development Authority (KDA) chief TS Nagabharana shot off a missive to the department, seeking changes to the selection criterion. Even actor and Rajya Sabha member Jaggesh took up the issue with the minister.

Nagesh tweeted: “The department will initiate stern action against the officials responsible for this instruction. Neither the central government nor the state has passed any such circular stating Hindi/English speaking skills are mandatory for selection of the students. The confusion was created by some officials in the department.”

Deputy director, pre-university, Bengaluru south, Anand Raju, had selected two students based on this criterion. He argued that during the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan meeting on June 7, the authorities had directed officials to choose students who speak Hindi.