Mind your language

The Chinese have a decade long programme to make their students proficient in English. The Beijing Olympics have been designated as a huge practice session for improving skills in one area China admits India has a head start. Surely then Beijing8217;s strategists would be delighted by Indian official policies that victimise English language educationists in the name of vernacular pride. Karnataka8217;s politicians are the latest to offer their unwitting services to India8217;s chief competitor for global jobs. In a recent move reminiscent of Bengal CPM8217;s infamous decision to delegitimise English as a medium of instruction, the state government derecognised 1,200 English-medium schools. This affects around 2,00,000 students who have been told that when schools reopen on October 10, they will be placed in Kannada medium institutions.

Thankfully, the matter hasn8217;t rested there. Not only are the schools agitating but so, more importantly, are parents of affected students. Their argument is simple but effective and carries a huge resonance in a state whose capital has become the global metaphor for creating new, skilled and well-paying jobs. How will our children be ready for the job market, the parents have asked, if English is not the medium of instruction in the formative years. Bengal8217;s experience has proved, if proof was required, that students can8217;t 8220;pick up8221; English at the later stage of school education. Indeed, the worry about the state of English language teaching in India is not that there8217;s too much of it, but there8217;s too little 8212; and much of it is of a quality that is extremely average, bordering on the appalling.

The Karnataka government, therefore, has a big fight on its hands and it is to be devoutly hoped that it will lose, especially since there are strong indications that aggrieved parents may take legal action. This deserves to become a test case on education 8212; politicians everywhere need to be strongly discouraged. This is not to say that language is only an issue for job market skills. Or that vernacular languages must not be promoted. But that encouragement can8217;t come by refusing to recognise one of the most basic global realities: English is the world8217;s language and everyone wants to learn it. And learning it doesn8217;t mean disrespect for the vernacular. By taking up the cause of English, are the Chinese insulting their language which has been part of the country8217;s millennia-spanning civilisation? The answer is obvious, whether one replies in English or in Kannada.