MOSCOW, May 7 (RAPSI) - The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday ruled against government dictating the primary schools’ language policy, The Indian Express reported.

Constitution Bench of the court ruled that: “State has no power to compel linguistic minority to impart primary education by compulsorily imposing regional language,” as cited by the The Hindu.

According to The Times of India, State would still be able to set mother tongue as official language in government and government-aided primary schools, while private schools as well as religious minority ones are protected by the Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression.

In 1994 Indian state of Karnataka ordered to impose state’s mother tongue Kannada as mandatory language for the primary schools. This decision sparked a controversy in Indian society. Two-judge bench of Supreme Court decided that this case should be considered by a larger panel because of its great significance for the future of India, The Hindu reports.