Detailing the challenges that Kannada language is facing, T.S. Nagabharana, chairman of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), called upon the people to get united and work for protecting, developing, and expanding the language beyond the boundaries of Karnataka.
“Education, which is supposed to be a service, has become a commodity. Kannada is not an exception. As a language, Kannada is facing a lot of survival challenges. We have to get united and collectively work for protecting and developing Kannada. If we want to expand the Kannada language beyond the boundaries of Karnataka, the youth must come forward with commitment,” he said.
He was speaking at a seminar on the various aspects of the Kannada language and the challenges before it at the Hongirana auditorium in Ballari on Wednesday. The event was organised to mark the 30 years of the formation of the KDA.
“The KDA has been striving to protect and develop Kannada and safeguard the interests of Kannadigas ever since it came into existence in 1992. Kannada, Kannadiga, and Karnataka has been its mantra,” he said.
In the sessions that followed the inauguration, Pradhan Gurudutt, the first president of Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati, presented a paper on the possibilities of Kannada learning in professional courses under the National Education Policy 2022.
“The ancient universities of India are still remembered for their quality of education. Today, we have over 800 universities and they have failed to be recognised at the international level… There are many provisions to use Kannada in education. But, they could not succeed because of the improper implementation. Now, the newly introduced National Education Policy has many aspects that are more trustworthy and implementable,” Mr. Gurudutt said. He also touched upon the challenges that one would face during translating a work from English to Kannada and the stressed for the need of resolving them.
Harish Ramaswamy provided supplementary notes on the topic.
Chief manager of Karnataka Bank H.S. Nandakumar and Belagavi correspondent of The Hindu Rishikesh Bahadur Desai spoke on the topic of ‘Education within the legal framework’. Political analyst Ravindra Reshme and educationist Aravind Chokkadi spoke on ‘Education, media and political will’ . Lecturers Nagarekha Gaonkar and T.G. Harish discussed the topic of ‘Challenges of administrative language in National Education Policy’.
S.V. Manjunath from Azim Premji University and Madhav M.K. from Mangalore University spoke on the ‘Empowerment of Kannada medium schools’.
