SC refuses to stay AP HC directions quashing AP govt’s order on English medium

Vijayawada: The Supreme Court, on Thursday, refused to issue stay orders on the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s order which had quashed the state government orders seeking implementation of English medium as a compulsory medium of instruction at primary-level in all the government schools in Andhra Pradesh.

A bench of justices D.Y. Chandrachud, K.M. Joseph and Indu Malhotra however, issued a notice in the plea and asked the respondent who was present on Caveat to file their response, listing the case for further consideration after three weeks.

While making submissions, senior counsel K.V. Vishwanathan, popular as KVV, on behalf of the AP government said that the government's decision was a progressive, forward-looking step. He informed the court that the decision contemplated a medium of instruction in English with Telugu as a subject.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud inquired about the provision under Section 29(2)(f) which stipulates the mother tongue as a medium of instruction as far as possible.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had said that education was important to alleviate poverty and that Andhra Pradesh would be the first in the country to offer English as the medium of education in all the government schools, which evoked criticism and legal hurdles.

All 45,000 government schools in the state earlier began offering English as a medium of instruction, in addition to Telugu, from Class I to VI, a facility that will be extended to Class X over the next four years from the 2021 session.

KVV informed without English we would all be stuck in islands. “People are moving out of government schools. We have conducted a survey and found that a majority of the parents want this,” he added.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, arguing in favour of the petitioner, informed the Supreme Court that the AP government has issued two government orders after the High court ordered Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government to hold another survey on English medium education in public schools.

Sankaranarayanan further said that the state has taken away the choice of Telugu speaking parents to send the child to a Telugu school.

The Supreme Court refused to issue stay on AP HC orders that quashed the state government’s orders on compulsory English medium and posted the petition to September 25.