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Education
in English is spreading. English is the most
sought after medium of instruction in India
today. Even in the small towns and villages, the
parents are aware that the mastery of English is
necessary for a respectable living. I get
reminded time and again about my own medium of
education at the high school and intermediate in
science level. The switch over from the
vernacular in school final to English in
intermediate science was not very difficult for
science education. Why is then English medium
spreading so fast and is being recommended right
from primary stage even by National Knowledge
Commission in its report? Perhaps, the better
employability of the students of English medium
education demands this.
Kerala and Delhi states ranked at the top of the
recently developed Educational Development Index
(EDI). However, according to the State Report on
Elementary Education in India, 2005, a National
University of Educational Planning and
Administration publication, Andhra Pradesh has
more students studying in the English medium
than any other state, followed by Tamil Nadu.
The study only account for students studying in
government and government-aided schools-
primary, upper primary, secondary and higher
secondary schools.
In Andhra Pradesh, while 90.34 lakh students out
of a total of 1.13 crore students go to schools
where Telugu is the medium of instruction, 19.32
lakh attend English medium schools. However, In
the EDI list, AP is ranked eighth.
In Tamil Nadu, third on the EDI list, out of
total enrolment of 97.8 lakh, 78.2 lakh students
go to the schools with Tamil as the main medium
of instruction, while 18.06 lakh go where
English is the preferred medium.
In Maharashtra, 7.58 lakh go to English-medium
schools while 1.04 crore go to Marathi-medium
schools.
In Bihar and UP, English-medium students lag
further behind in enrolment numbers. One reason
may be the less urbanization of the states.
Surprisingly in Jammu and Kashmir, more students
study in the English medium than any other
language.
Interestingly, Kerala and Delhi states ranked at
the top of the recently developed Educational
Development Index (EDI). EDI rankings did not
take the medium of instruction as a performance
indicator. But students enrolled in
English-medium schools are only a small fraction
of those receiving instruction in Malayalam and
Hindi respectively. In Delhi, Hindi is the most
favoured medium with nearly 15.5 lakh students
opting for schools with national language as the
medium of instruction. Again, English is way
behind with only 4.34 lakh students going where
it is medium of instruction.
The medium of instruction for the subjects other
that English must be the vernacular. The kids at
the tender age coming from all sorts of social
status can’t be sufficiently comfortable in
understanding the subject if taught in a
language that is not their mother tongue.
The Kerala and Delhi model can work and are
better. Students may start learning English from
the primary class itself and can continue
learning up to school final or higher secondary
as one language. The medium for other subjects
may remain the language of the majority of the
students- one of the major Indian languages. But
the emphasis must be on using newer techniques.
The students after 12 years or more for school
final or higher secondary must be able to
communicate perfectly in English. They need not
be mastering the fine intricacy of grammatically
correct English and appreciate the finer
literary aspects of English writers and poets.
But they must be as good in written and verbal
communication as those studying in English
medium or better. Teaching, testing, and
examination must aim for attaining this skill of
communication through rigorous language labs,
group discussions, dramas, debates, and
presentations through audio and video aids. And
that will serve the purpose of the market.
However, it will require first the training and
development for the teachers responsible for
teaching this foreign language to the students.
Students can’t be expected to learn a language
from the teachers who themselves are deficient
in communicating in English language. And that
must be taken care of on priority in education.
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Comments: |
Perhaps the most compelling argument
for and against English medium
education is to take the example of
China.
In 1949 China achieved independence
(or "liberation" as the Chinese
refer to ) from foreign occupation
interference and civil war. The
circumstances then were far more
traumatic than that which India
underwent. However the problem of
illiteracy and a lop sided
educational system was identical to
that which was faced by India at the
time. China had a small educated
elite well versed in English or
French and located mostly in the
port cities and the capital,
(mirroring India's own elite located
in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and
Delhi). The rest of the population
(comprising about 95% of the
population) living in the rural
heartland and inner cities was
either illiterate or with minimal
education.
There was not much hope that the
western educated Chinese elite would
live up to their responsibilities
and help educate the rest of the
population in English or a western
language. The western educated elite
were too busy trying to migrate out
of China to greener pastures. Like
India, China faced a shortage of
English teachers, however India had
an advantage in the fact that the
first generation of English knowing
students could be educated in the
Christian mission or public schools.
In the case of China the political
differences with the West ensured
that the few English language
Christian mission schools were
shut-down. The task of educating the
masses thus fell to the humble rural
school teachers and those with
university education but with very
poor foreign language skills. The
difficulty of promoting literacy was
compounded by the fact that the
Chinese language was still stuck in
15th century terminology and
unsuitable for teaching advanced
science or technology. How quickly a
language can become obsolete is
starkly exposed by the example that
were a time machine were to take us
but thirty years back and some one
said that he could not download his
e-mail from his desk-top to his
palm-top it would mean nonsense to
all the people around. The Chinese
language was not only obsolete but
it was also very cumbersome and
extremely difficult to write on
account of the fact that the words
were actually symbols and not
phonetically formed.
The Chinese took the bold step of
reforming their language. The
language was simplified and updated
with modern technical equivalents.
The Chinese also introduced 'pinyin'
a system which allowed the Chinese
words to be written in a phonetic
form using characters similar to
Roman alphabet. (The Hindi film
industry follows this unwittingly
when they write in Roman script "Qayamat
sey Qayamat tak.." because the blunt
fact is that more people can
understand Hindi than read it).
The Chinese then took a massive
educational reform program in three
tiers:
1. Adult literacy was compulsory.
Every adult had to learn the basic
writing and reading skills.
2. Children's education was free and
compulsory. Regardless of rank ALL
children would go to the SAME school
in the neighborhood. So the rich and
poor both went to the same schools
learning only Chinese ( the
simplified and modernised version).
3. The universities and colleges
would teach only in Chinese with
extremely advanced compulsory
classes in a foreign language of
choice (English, French, Russian).
4. A highly advanced translation
service was set up to translate
every foreign book, document, and
technical paper into Chinese. Thus
no section of the society felt
disadvantaged due to language
skills.
This educational policy had a
massive social effect. A whole
generation of extremely well
educated Chinese technocrats,
scientists and scholars came up with
an extremely alert and literate
population. Because the scientific
and technical manpower was more
familiar working in Chinese, the
brain drain out of China was
insignificant. In fact in the
fifties there was a reverse drain
when scientists and engineers of
Chinese origin living in North
America and Europe were impressed
with China's educational progress
and fired with patriotism returned
to China to further help the
educational process. With its large
pool of professionals China set up a
massive manufacturing infrastructure
setting it on its path to a
super-power status.
Today however the Chinese are taking
a second look at their educational
policy. Their initial goals have
been achieved. They have achieved
minimum basic education with a very
high standard of science for their
entire population regardless of
gender, race, religion or social
status. They have achieved a very
high standard of professional
technical education at their
universities and research
institutes.
However the Chinese now want to be
viewed as world friendly. Tourists
should be able to visit China and
move freely and investment in the
service sector will give an
additional boost to the economy and
image of China in the world if only
China's banking, airlines, shipping,
insurance, soft-ware firms and
medical centers had more English
speaking people. China's service
sector is facing an acute shortage
of English speaking persons, and
even though the reverse migration of
people of Chinese origin from all
over Asia, North America, Australia
and Europe has helped there is still
a very wide gap between supply and
demand.
Which is why China has started a
massive English education policy. It
is remarkable how even in the
remotest villages and inner cities
China is implementing its English
literacy program with the same
fervor and dedication as when it
launched the drive to reform
education over five decades ago.
Adults are signing up for English
classes and computer aided language
labs have cropped up like mushrooms.
Children are now being taught
English from the fourth standard.
Since the entire population is
literate to begin with teaching them
another language given the will and
determination is relatively easy. In
India most of those who cannot read
or write English usually are poorly
educated in any other language also.
(The Hindi movie industry is a stark
reminder of this fact when the
posters and banners invariably carry
the message in English).
The old Chinese language was
stripped of its religious, and class
based idioms and simplified to the
language spoken on the ground. Thus
the reformed language became a
medium for social development and
now in the rest of the world when we
say Chinese we mean mainland
Mandarin instead of Traditional
Taiwanese-Cantonese which is a relic
of the past and confined to Taiwan
as an obsolete dinosaur.
The United Nations has adopted
Chinese (mainland Mandarin) as one
of its official languages (along
with French, English and Russian)
and over 100 universities worldwide
teach Mandarin.
India did the reverse with its own
language. Instead of keeping the old
simplified Hindustani that worked so
well for the film industry and used
successfully by every administration
prior to India's independence and
upgrading it to match the scientific
terminology of the times Hindi was
transformed more an more into a
religious language. The Hindi of
today is a pumped up artificial
lingo that not even the erstwhile
poet Prime Minister of India
(himself an exponent of this
language ) uses in his own poems.
This artificial lingo is thrust upon
the unfortunate lower middle class
student in the Hindi medium schools
with the result that it promotes
little love and respect for the
language. The lower middle class
person prefers to speak in his local
dialect because he is more
comfortable with that language. The
upper classes of India today speak a
mixture of English and Hindi for the
very valid reason that the Hindi has
failed to live up to its promise
In the absence of a national
language English is the best option
for the nation, though national
unity on this basis will still
remain a dream. - Reza Sami , SC,
USA - Feb. 5, 2007
A live issue has been raised in the
article and in the comment. They are
stirring facts.
To my understanding, language and
language policy since Independence
have always been treated like a
shuttle-cock of badminton and the
policy makers (players) on language
policy have always been under the
influence of hidden agenda.
A particular language as a medium of
instruction is not a problem; the
problem is how to evaluate the
learning of a language in the strict
sense of the knowledge of a
language.
I remember the lecture of my learned
Professor Sitaramji (CIEFL,
Hyderabad) whom I found to be a very
natural teacher of Stylistics, asked
me a question:
“How an Indian teacher of English
Literature will teach John Milton’s
Paradise Lost?”
“How then, a British teacher of
Sanskrit Literature will teach
Kalidas’ Meghdutam?”, I replied.
I think that the nucleus of
knowledge that is being imparted in
a teaching–learning process at
whatever level mustn’t be
compromised where medium of
instruction could be anything. Yes,
what is most affecting or
influencing is the educational
environment. As such is the honest
education policy which, I think, is
the backbone of the issue.
Pedagogically, a particular language
as a medium of instruction is not a
barrier to the learning of anything.
What matters the most is the
environment (policy). Japan, France,
Germany, Russia and many more are
the examples. - Madani Mohiuddin
Ahmad, KSU, Riyadh, KSA - Feb. 6,
2007 |
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