Just 51% of Kannada-medium students pass PU final exam

82% of English-medium students successful; science curriculum, govt negligence blamed for disparit

The board is planning to convert the entire science syllabus in Kannada.

By Rutvick Mehta

BANGALORE (Dec. 1)—Students studying in English are far more likely to be admitted to university than those whose educational medium is Kannada, the latest pre-university final exam results show.

In 2011, 82 percent of English-medium students passed the test, while only 51 percent of Kannada-medium students were successful.

The respective pass rates last year for the second PU exam, whose results decide whether a student gains admittance to university, were 69 percent and 54 percent.

The difference in the test results of the two cohorts has been considerable over the years, but what is alarming is how poorly the Kannada-medium students scored this year in comparison with their English-medium peers.
An expert blamed the disparity in the test results on the fact that in India, science is taught wholly in English.

A.H. Mattur, deputy director (exam and academic) of the state’s Pre University Education Department told The SoftCopy: “English-medium students are doing well only in science. In other streams, the Kannada-medium students perform better. The problem is the whole science syllabus is in English, which results in a lot of failures of Kannada-medium students.”

He also cited the problem of a lack of books and study materials in Kannada.

“If enough study material and books are prepared in Kannada, I’m sure the pass percentage will definitely improve among Kannada students,” Mattur said.

The board is working toward converting the entire science syllabus in Kannada, but no deadline has been set for this project..

Graph showing the increase in the number of Kannada medium students failing in 2011

Basic facilities, incentives required

“The PU board or the government does nothing to encourage the use of Kannada among students,” said B.V. Raghavan of Kannada Prasaara Parishat, an organization engaged in teaching Kannada.  “The students should be given some incentives like awards, job guarantee and reservation in government jobs as most of the Kannada medium students are from the rural areas.”

He said that if Kannada-medium students were given basic amenities at PU colleges, such as a decent library with Kannada books, their performances would improve.  

“The government, the PU board and the students themselves are not serious about Kannada as a language,” said Lissiamma, principal of Indiranagar PU College. “We generally have the maximum number of failures in Kannada stream in second-year PU.”

“The syllabus of Kannada is filled with 10th century verses and poems,” said Sunil Prasad, a second-year PU student at Indiranagar PU College.

“When you compare it with the syllabus of other languages like English and French, there are bound to be more failures in Kannada,” he said.

Ravi. N, a second-year student from the same college, said: “We don’t have enough books to refer to in Kannada. There are so many study guides in English.”

In view of Kannada losing its prominence as a language among the youth in Bangalore, the students in Kannada-medium colleges should not be neglected by the authorities. They should find ways to improve the pass percentage of the Kannada-medium students and bring them up to par with the English-medium students.