Taking a serious view of the management of a private English medium school punishing two of its students for speaking in Telugu, the Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the incident.
As part of the punishment, the Class III students of the school at Maidukur were forced to hang cardboard banners around their neck that read 'I will never speak in Telugu' and walk on the school premises.
Reacting to the incident, Secondary School Education Minister D Manikya Vara Prasad said the government had taken a serious view of the matter and ordered an inquiry.
"A notice has been served to the school management. The government would cancel the recognition of the school if its management was found guilty during the probe," he warned.
Expressing his anger, Prasad said, "Telugu is our mother tongue and the incident is indeed an affront."
"If it was a mistake on part of the teachers, the government would ask the school management to sack them," the minister said.
After the news of the punishment spread, parents and student organisations gathered in front of the school on Monday and demanded stern action against the authorities and sought the school's de-recognition.
According to sources in the school, the management has tendered an apology to the parents of the two children, but there was no official confirmation on this.