PIL demands entrance tests for professional courses in all languages

Updated on: Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to the Centre, the state government and some educational bodies following a public interest litigation(PIL) that sought the entrance tests for admissions to professional courses be conducted in all languages recognised by the Constitution.

The notices were issued yesterday by a pision bench headed by acting Chief Justice A L Dave, which has also asked the concerned authorities to whom notices have been issued to file replies by October 20.

The PIL was filed by the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad which has sought directions for various educational bodies to conduct entrance examination in Gujarati and other languages recognised by the Constitution.

The PIL argued that the entrance tests like Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), All India Engineering Entrance Examination, All India Pre-Medical Test, Common Law Admission Test, National Aptitude Test in Architecture and Chartered Accountant Common Proficiency Test are conducted only in English and Hindi and hence students studying in Gujarati cannot perform well in these tests.

Based on the PIL, notices were also served on Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), Council of Architecture, Department of Higher Education, New Delhi, and Convener, Common Law Admission Test, Kolkata.

The 105-year-old literary body has demanded relief through public interest to introduce Gujarati, which is a scheduled language, in the upcoming tests for the professional courses like engineering, medical, law and architecture.

The petitioner argued that UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) already offers option of regional languages in competitive exams.

Not giving an option of the language in which the students have studied violates constitutional rights of students, the PIL contended.

If the present system continues to prevail, the regional languages will cease to exist. The medium of education is also essential in promoting regional culture, the PIL has argued.

Some well known literary persons like Raghuveer Chaudhary, Niranjan Bhagat and Vinod Bhatt have also joined as respondents in this litigation along with the Parishad.

The petitioners have also stated that it has been getting requests for conducting entrance tests in Gujarati from parents of the students studying in remote villages and also urban poor.

If the present system continues to prevail, the regional languages will cease to exist. The medium of education is also essential in promoting regional culture, the PIL has argued.

Some well known literary persons like Raghuveer Chaudhary, Niranjan Bhagat and Vinod Bhatt have also joined as respondents in this litigation along with the Parishad.

The petitioners have also stated that it has been getting requests for conducting entrance tests in Gujarati from parents of the students studying in remote villages and also urban poor.

PIL demands entrance tests for professional courses in all languages

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