English Medium doesn’t violate RTE: Government to High Court

The State govt filed a counter affidavit before the Andhra Pradesh HC on Thursday defending its decision to introduce English medium in all govt schools across the State.      

The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against the govt decision. Advocate General S Sriram argued that the govt’s decision does not violate Section 29 of the Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009.

“Article 350 of the Indian Constitution provides only for safeguarding rights of the linguistic minorities for being taught that in their mother tongue,” he said. Three judgements passed by the Supreme Court in 2014 related to imposition of a certain language as the medium of instruction in schools were also submitted before the court.

The AG requested the court to consider the draft policy of the Centre (National Education Policy 2019), which has discussed only the possibilities & not made it imperative to formulate the new policy.

The institutions mentioned in Article 30 & private institutions aren't affected. The govt also attached records showing support of 97 per cent of parents’ committees for making English as medium of instruction in schools.

The govt has taken steps to promote mother tongue by making Telugu as a compulsory subject in the curriculum, he said & added that the govt has issued orders only after examining the aspirations of the people. He also said that the petitioners didn't mention that their children were studying in Telugu medium.

“The courts shouldn’t deal as appellate authority & stop govt policies. The court has limited role in policy decisions & can't direct on the policy making,” he pointed out, concluding his arguments. The counter affidavit was filed in response to the Public Interest LitigationS (PIL)s filed by BJP leader Sudhish Rambhotla & one Guntupalli Srinivas.

In their petitions, they had argued that the government decision was discriminatory & violated the right to free & compulsory education as per the Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009.

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