Karnatak Vidyavardhakh Sangha members presenting the Patil Puttappa award to educationist R.K. Patil during the 137th foundation day of KVS in Dharwad on Sunday (July 26).
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The 137th foundation day of Karnatak Vidyavardhakh Sangha was celebrated in Dharwad on Sunday. Educationist R.K. Patil was conferred the Patil Puttappa award in an event organised on the KVS premises.
B.L. Patil, social worker and founder of the Vimochana Organisation, expressed concern about the trend of parents choosing English-medium schools for their children. He also spoke against the move of various governments to close down government Kannada-medium schools.
“It is at such a juncture that the work of people like Mr. R.K. Patil becomes important. He has been running Kannada-medium schools in Jath Taluk in Maharashtra for over six decades,” Mr. B.L. Patil said. He alleged that the Maharashtra government had been shutting down Kannada-medium schools in border areas. “The Shivalingeshwar Education Society at Sank in Jath taluk of Maharashtra has continued to preserve and promote Kannada, Mr. B.L. Patil said.
He also criticised the education system in Karnataka, stating that nearly 90% of students were being taught in languages they do not fully understand, affecting their creativity. Young children are forced to attend English-medium schools due to the aspirations of their parents. They suffer as they do not understand most of what is taught in the classroom. They do not receive well-rounded education. They are only forced to prepare for examinations,” he said.
Presenting the award, KVS honourary vice-president Ajit Prasad said that running Kannada-medium schools had become extremely difficult under present circumstances. “The government is not permitting the filling of vacant teaching posts, and managements are forced to bear a heavy financial burden. Educationists like Mr. R.K. Patil have been offering pre-university science education in Kannada medium and it is a remarkable achievement,’’ he said.
Accepting the award, Mr. R.K. Patil said that because of the institution’s emphasis on quality education, students from various districts of Karnataka had enrolled in its Kannada-medium PU science programme and achieved success. He said the institution had introduced a variety of courses to reduce the financial burden on rural students and had cultivated the practice of making students write numerals in Kannada.
KVS vice-president Sanjeev Kulkarni said that the lack of political will had resulted in the loss of several Kannada-speaking regions to other States. He said that neither language nor culture could be confined by geographical borders.
On the occasion, the booklet Patil Puttappa, written by C.U. Bellakki and published by the Karnataka Kulapurohita Alur Venkatarao National Memorial Trust, was released.
Published – July 27, 2026 10:27 pm IST
