Mangaluru : Litterateur Erya Lakshminarayana Alva lamented that children were subjected to a lot of discrimination over medium of instruction.

He was speaking at a programme organised by Dakshina Kannada district Kannada Sahitya Parishat at Zilla Panchayat Hall in Mangaluru on Wednesday, in order to recognise and facilitate Kannada medium schools in the district that have completed 100 years.

The programme was organised on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of State Kannada Sahitya parishat.

Erya called upon the parents of students to shun false prestige regarding English medium of instruction. Stressing upon the importance of primary education in regional languages, he said that government should support Kannada medium schools. About 75 per cent of Kannada medium schools are on the verge of closure, he said.

DK district Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Pradeep Kumar Kalkura who presided over the function, said that educational institutions in the district had majorly contributed to the field of eduction and had made the district achieve high academic excellence.

Zilla Panchayat president Asha Thimmappa Gowda who inaugurated the programme said that primary education should be in the regional language and added that this would help students to imbibe cultural and humanitarian values.

Heads of 45 schools in Mangaluru North, 30 in Mangaluru South and 11 in Moodbidri zone were felicitated by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat. Also, the Kannada medium schools scoring 100 per cent results in the SSLC examinations in 2014-15 were recognised.

Zilla Panchayat vice president Sathish Kumpala, CEO P I Srividya and DDPI Walter D’Mello were present.

Schools that have completed 100 years are: