KDA urges Karnataka government to implement 5% reservation in education for Kannadigas living in border regions and outside the State

Kannada Development Authority Chairman Purushottama Bilimaleduring an interaction in Mangaluru on September 1, 2024. File photo
| Photo Credit: H S MANJUNATH

In the interest of the future of Kannadigas living in border regions and outside the State, the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has urged the State Government to effectively implement the 5% reservation which was ordered in 2011 for admissions to higher education and professional courses.

Prof. Purushottham Bilimale, Chairman of KDA, who has written a letter to the State government in this regard, said that although 13 years have passed since the 5% reservation was introduced in education for Kannadigas in border regions and outside the state, the authorities have neglected to implement it.

Many districts, including Raichur, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Kolar, Bengaluru Rural district, share the border with Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala. Kannada medium schools are functioning in many villages of these states. In many states, Kannada schools are functioning in the capital cities as well, he said.

Inadequate implementation of reservation

“The State Government held a meeting on July 13, 2011, to facilitate Kannadigas staying in border regions and outside the state to get admissions for higher education, technical education, Pre-University colleges, Industrial Training Institutes, diploma courses, professional courses like medical, engineering and others for candidates who have studied from class 1 to 10 in Kannada medium in any part of India. However, due to the negligence of the authorities, this reservation has not been adequately implemented and the students from these areas are facing hardship,” the KDA chairman alleged.

“It does not augur well for the progress of Kannada language and culture that several educational institutions of our state are not following this reservation and are depriving the basic rights of Kannadigas living in border regions and outside the state. Many of these students are being denied admission in educational institutions. In case they enrol in the colleges, several complaints have been received regarding not providing even minimum hostel facility. It is unfortunate that this kind of denial is being done by the government educational institutions,” Prof. Bilimale stated in the letter written to the Minister of Higher Education, Minister of School Education and Literacy and Minister of Social Welfare Department.

“There are Kannada schools in the border villages of Telangana, Maharashtra and other states, and there have been many complaints about the authorities denying this educational reservation to candidates who studied in those schools from Class 1 to 10. Many such complaints have been submitted by the public in Bidar, Raichur, Kalaburagi and Belagavi. Recently, there was also an incident where a student who studied in Kannada medium in Tamil Nadu was denied a seat in a college in Mysuru,” Prof. Bilimale said.