Tags:
Journalism of Courage
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.
