bengaluru the centre has said that there is no mention of any mandatory learning of language in the national education policy nep 2020 according to its affidavit filed before the karnataka high court in relation to petitions challenging a state government circularorder making kannada a compulsory language for undergraduate studentsthe affidavit filed by dinesh t pali under secretary department of higher education under the ministry of education has stated that nep2020 is designed to achieve a comprehensive educational system for providing easy access to citizens keeping in mind the aspirations of local regional and national levelsthe policy has to be understood interpreted and implemented keeping in mind the broad objectives enshrined in the constitution the statement addeddwelling further on the matter the centre has said that chapter 22 of nep2020 is titled promotion of indian languages art and culture and is totally devoted to promotion of indian languages and regional languages through various measuresspecifically para 2210 states that higher educational institutions will use mother tongue local language as medium of instruction and or offer bilingually para 236 envisions that a rich variety educational software will be made available for students and teachers at all levels in all major indian languages teaching learning econtent will continue to be developed by all states in all regional languages as well as by the ncert ciet cbse nios and other bodies institutions and will be uploaded onto diksha platform the central government has further statedmeanwhile a division bench headed by chief justice ritu raj awasthi adjourned the hearing to april 4 following a request made on behalf of the advocategeneralthe court is hearing a pil filed by samskrita bharati karnataka trust bengaluru and three other institutions associated with the promotion of sanskrit language study and also a petition filed by some studentsthe petitioners have claimed that compelling students to learn kannada as a language is quite opposite to the very objective of national education policy 2020they have further sought for the quashing of the september 15 2021 government order wherein interstate and international degree students pursuing graduate program will be compulsorily instructed in functional kannada in one of the semesters in the 1st year saying that it is truly an ordeal for a student who has never spoken a single word of kannada in their lifeon december 16 2021 the high court had passed an order restraining restraining the state government and bengaluru city university from taking any precipitative action in the matterthe state government however had defended the move claiming that the students who have come from other states have to learn only functional kannada for one year