Language Policy- Karnataka and Orissa
Posted : September 26, 2006 at 7:34 am [IST]
Why do governments interfere with the future of the children of the country? In one such instance, the Karnataka Government has suddenly withdrawn recognition to 1,400 English medium schools from the immediate effect. It claims it as an action to preserve the culture of the region. As alleged, the foreign language used as medium threatens its culture and values. The schools will have to switch over to Kannad, the language of the state or face closure. Will it affect the quality of human resources under production rather preparation for the IT sector that made Karnataka globally important? Will it decelerate the growth rate of Karnataka after sometime that Karnataka enjoyed for a decade or more? Will other state follow Karnataka or keep the preference of English as market requirement?
The states such as TamilNadu and even West Bengal had undergone this problem earlier. Spoken and written English language skills were derided. However both the states realized the mistakes made. English medium schools are in great demand in the recent years in all the states including Bihar and UP. Even in rural areas, many English medium schools have come up. The great employment opportunities of the various forms of back-office work, software industries, service and retail sectors are behind the trend. The knowledge and fluency in English is one essential requirement for global presence of India in many sectors, even if some community leaders with vested interest may not agree to it and keep on talking of culture and values to a switch over to local language. The average Indian derives quite a significant advantage from a good quality school education with a strong grounding in English as communication medium besides other languages and the subjects. That has been our advantage over Chinese and other low cost countries.
Surprisingly, Orissa has appreciated the shortcomings in its education. Students from Orissa were not able to fare well in job interviews and professional courses, like engineering, medical disciplines due to poor communicative skills. Special efforts were necessary to enhance their communication skills. So the government has decided to customise higher education to prepare students for the job market, both within the country and globally. All degree colleges in the state will soon impart communicative English courses.
The medium of instruction may remain anything. Can the curricula ensure the world class communicating skills in English for the students or for the language that is used universally in business and administration world over? Perhaps the schools as short cut switch over to English medium for the whole lot of subjects. And the lack of good teachers and pre-school preparation for the medium of the teaching affect the learning of the students. The schools must be very cautious to ensure the imparting of the knowledge; and the medium of education must not be the primary concern. However, if the profession demands excellent skill in English communication, the school must ensure that for its students. It must be something like the primary knowledge of using computers that all students today are expected to know. As it is in demand, it is being taught universally today. Basically the question of the communication skill of English is one of demand and supply. And the schools are trying to meet the demand by selling the English medium followed in the schools.
- Indra
Category: Indian politics |
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