Make Kannada medium mandatory for all till class 8: Nissar Ahmed

Belagavi, Dec 2: The state government should be serious on making mandatory Kannada medium study from class 1 to 8 for all students in order to strengthen the language, said poet Prof K S Nissar Ahmed.

He was speaking at a programme to felicitate Rajyotsava awardees of Belagavi district — Siddharam Swami of Naganuru Rudrakshimath, Hindustani vocalist Pandit Rajprabhu Dhotre and senior engineer B A Reddy — organized by Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) here recently.

Ahmed said there is nothing wrong in learning English, but the focus should be on the mother tongue. "We should be proud of our language since its 2,500 years old and one among 20 prominent languages of the 6,000 languages of the world. There is a need to introduce Kannada effectively in the judiciary and bureaucracy," Ahmed said.

Siddharam Swami called for the need to strengthen Kannada in the border areas. Vice-chancellor Prof Karisiddappa, registrar H N Jagannath Reddy, registrar (evaluation) Satish Annigeri and finance officer M A Sapna were present on the occasion.