Bengaluru: Karnataka govt Thursday said it would convert all its schools into bilingual by adding an English-medium section from the next academic year in its bid to stem exodus of students to English-medium education preferred by aspirational parents.School education minister Madhu Bangarappa said parents have the right to choose the medium of instruction. The govt took time to announce a bilingual switchover as it needed qualified teachers.The state has 48,527 govt schools as per Unified District Information System for Education Plus 2025-26 data.Experts advised caution, saying any sweeping move must be based after assessing the ground realities of already functioning bilingual schools.HD Kumaraswamy, as chief minister, announced bilingual schools during 2019-20. Since then, 6,539 schools have had English-medium sections. In 2024-25, about 2,000 govt schools were permitted to open new sections. In 2025-26, some 4,134 schools were added on. The first batch is in class 7 now.In Bengaluru, of the total 1,465 govt schools in Bangalore North and Bangalore South, 1,103 have been given permission to start sections. There are 730 schools in Bangalore South and 373 in Bangalore North from class 1.The demand for English-medium sections is understandably high. Last year, 11,555 potential schools applied from 33 educational districts. The first 15 schools from each taluk with the highest student enrolment were selected.An observer said teacher preparation is the most critical factor. “Currently, teachers are trained for three days in mostly cosmetic exercises. How can teachers in rural areas learn the language at such short notice? Speaking and teaching are different. Teachers must be trained in both aspects,” said a high school teacher.
