Raichur: The state government has planned to constitute a commission for collating information about education in mother tongue in the western countries, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said. The report of the commission would be used to buttress Karnataka’s case for imparting education in mother tongue.

Speaking after inaugurating the 82nd Akhila Bharatha Sahitya Sammelana here on Friday, the chief minister said that the primary objective of the commission would be to study the status of education in mother tongue in foreign countries. “It will also build a database of people who studied in Kannada medium and scaled the heights. We are also deliberating on placing this report before the Supreme Court,” he said. The said commission would be formed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act.

Siddaramaiah said that the medium of instruction had become a huge challenge for Karnataka. The determination of the Karnataka government to impart education in mother tongue has suffered a blow in the wake of the order of the Supreme Court. The apex court has rejected both the review petition and curative petition filed by the state.

“According to the court, the state cannot impose the medium of instruction and it is purely the choice of parents. Going by this finding, not only Kannada, even all other regional languages will face threat to their survival. The Union government should intervene to pre-empt such a scenario,” the chief minister said. He added that he had drawn the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this issue and had impressed upon him to take an appropriate decision.

Siddaramaiah, however, said that Kannadigas need not lose hope as many more options were still available for the state.

He said that in order to facilitate the growth of Kannada, experts in various disciplines should start writing in Kannada. This would help in increasing the vocabulary and expand the horizons of writings in Kannada. “Kannada is a very vibrant language and it is wrong to say that literature on science and technology cannot be written in Kannada. We have the example of our own people who have become great scientists by studying in Kannada.”

A Cabinet sub-committee was formed to study the report submitted by the panel headed by Baragur Ramachandrappa for drafting a cultural policy for Karnataka. The opinion of the sub-committee would soon be brought before the Cabinet and steps would be taken to bring out a cultural policy for the state, the chief minister added.