BENGALURU: For non-kannadigas working in the IT sector in the state, learning the local language, Kannada, will soon become a lot easier.
The state government is mulling setting up Kannada learning centres in IT parks across Karnataka to help techies, especially non-Kannadigas, learn the language.
The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) is planning to open such centres.
“The Kannada Development Authority will organise Kannada classes during weekdays as techies come to work from Monday to Friday." L Hanumantaiah, KDA chairperson, told Express
“They will be taught spoken as well as written Kannada,” he added.
Kannada Development Authority sources said they have started such classes in apartments on the outskirts of the city where there are more non-Kannadiga residents and these have started becoming popular.
“Similarly, classes will be conducted on tech campuses for half-an-hour to 45 minutes. Techies can attend these classes either before their office starts, or during lunch break, or at any time of their convinence,” a source said.
The Kannada Development Authority is also planning to hold ‘Kannada Habba’ (Kannada festival) at major tech parks, including ITPL, Infosys in Electronics city, Global Village on Mysuru Road and Manyata Tech Park near Hebbal.
“To begin with, we will conduct Kannada Habba in the third week of March at ITPL and we have invited more than 200 IT companies in that area,” L Hanumantaiah, KDA chairperson, told Express.
He said during this habba, techies will showcase their talents in dancing, singing, reciting poems, skits and plays, all in Kannada.
“This is an attempt to showcase our rich heritage and language to non-Kannadigas who have been working in Karnataka for many years, but were not yet exposed to our culture. In IT companies, there are less Kannadigas, but the events will be all Kannada related, including speeches by experts,” he said.