Hold correspondence for NAAC accreditation in Kannada: Department of Collegiate Education orders colleges

The Ministry of Collegiate Education has issued an order to all government, aided and private degree colleges as well as B.Ed colleges to conduct all letter correspondence and submit documents for National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation in Kannada.

Following a letter written by the Chairman of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), University Education Department Commissioner N. Manjushree issued the order.

“NAAC evaluates and rates government premier colleges, private and aided colleges and B.Ed. colleges as per the academic quality standards of the institution every five years. Therefore, almost all the documents and correspondence of the college to NAAC are submitted only in English. However, since Kannada is the dominant and administrative language in Karnataka, day-to-day correspondence regarding NAAC has to be conducted in Kannada,” the order reads.

Complaint from Kannada professor

A Kannada professor from RBNMS First Class College in Bengaluru has filed a complaint with the Kannada Development Authority, alleging that the Kannada department was forced to prepare all documents in English on the pretext of University Grants Commission (UGC) and NAAC accreditation and that Kannada faculty were subjected to mental harassment by imposing English on them.

KDA President Purushottama Bilimale expressed his displeasure saying, “There is an order that daily correspondence regarding NAAC should be conducted in Kannada and it is clear that RBNMS college has adopted an anti-Kannada attitude violating the purpose of this order.”

In this regard, he wrote a letter to the Commissioner of the Department of University Education, requesting them to issue a circular to all private degree colleges to conduct all correspondence regarding UGC and NAAC accreditation in Kannada and not to harass Kannada faculties in any way.

Kannadiga member in NAAC committee

Prof. Bilimale said the NAAC committee should have one member from each state. Accordingly, when the NAAC committee comes to Karnataka, there must be a member who is a Kannadiga. Must translate NAAC required documents into English. “But NAAC is violating these rules. Members from respective states are not appointed to the committee. Those from outside the state are pressuring them to submit all documents and correspondence only in English. They are issuing notices to principals of colleges,” he said.

“Kannada professors have to give Powerpoint presentation in English before the NAAC committee. All required documents should be submitted in English. What is the fairness of submitting documents in English for Kannada courses?” he asked.

“Kannada is the administrative language in Karnataka. The government’s orders are also clear regarding sending documents in regional languages ​​and correspondence with the UGC and NAAC. Especially if documents are required in English, those documents can be translated from Kannada and submitted or there are opportunities to handle them bilingually,” he added.