Guardians of students of a Kendriya Vidyalaya here on Friday decided to move the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), urging it to make Assamese a compulsory subject from classes I to X in its schools.

The moves comes amid opposition from various organisations to the KVS’s purported move to make Assamese irrelevant in its schools.

Abhibhayak Oikya Manch, a forum of guardians of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khanapara, sent a memorandum to the KVS commissioner in New Delhi through the school principal. Later, they decided to send it directly.

A guardian said the school had sought no-objection certificate from them to arrange classes for those who want to learn Assamese after school hours.

A notification of the KVS issued on March 29 said, “If at least 15 or more students opt to study an additional language, the teaching of the additional language may be taken up by the respective schools as per requirement beyond the school hours.”

The guardian said, “Instead of Assamese, the school is making Sanskrit a compulsory subject. We don’t have any objection if Sanskrit is introduced but it should not be made a compulsory subject. Sanskrit cannot be a substitute for regional languages.”

Another guardian said those taking special Assamese class after routine school hours wouldn’t be able to avail of the school bus services as the buses won’t wait for a handful of students. Besides, the move will also create problems for aspirants of state government jobs, including the Assam Public Service Commission, where learning the regional language is essential.

According to Section 29 of the Rights to Education Act, “medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue”.

A member of the school management committee told The Telegraph that it was the KVS’s decision and they were merely implementing instructions.

The development came a day after the state’s biggest student body, the All Assam Students’ Union, opposed the KVS’s purported move. It also slammed Dispur for “keeping mum on the issue”.

The state’s biggest literary body, Asam Sahitya Sabha, also opposed the move, describing it as a “conspiracy against the regional languages”. It threatened to close down Kendriya Vidyalayas across the state if the KVS did not withdraw the notification.

“We will not allow the KVS to run Kendriya Vidyalayas in Assam if it doesn’t withdraw the notification,” Sabha president Paramananda Rajbongshi said.