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Back to Come on Kannadiga
Kannada as a medium of
Instruction
Popular opinion would lead us to believe that English medium schools are
“THE” place to send our kids and Kannada medium schools are archaic
institutions that will hinder our children’s opportunities in today’s global
job market. But I would like to present a case arguing for the opposing
viewpoint. I believe English-medium schools across the state of Karnataka
are actually harmful to the younger generation.
As an NRI Kannadiga, born and brought up in America, I have only visited
India 6 or 7 times in my life. My Indian-bred cousins went to
English-medium schools, and were all "rank-holders". All 8 of them received
either Engineering or Computer Science degrees from prestigious institutions
like M.S. Ramaiah. Today, every last one of them is employed by some big
multinational IT firm, where all they speak at work is English. Needless to
say, their knowledge of Kannada is nearly non-existent.
HOWEVER, none of my cousins speak English as correctly as my grandfather,
who went to a Kannada-medium school in the 1920s, where English was taught
only as one subject.
My anecdote matches with some claims that the number of quality
English-speakers is actually DWINDLING in India. This despite the fact that
more kids are attending English-medium schools than ever before! No one
realizes that when English becomes a medium of instruction, LESS attention
is paid to grammatical correctness, since everyone thinks children will
automatically learn better English when they’re immersed in it. But sadly,
that’s not the case.
For example, when an Indian math teacher gives lessons completely in English
(which is not her native tongue), she will make grammatical mistakes when
explaining math concepts. When children learn math, they also imbibe the
teacher's English mistakes.
Contrast this with children in countries like Germany, France, and Japan,
where English is offered as one (optional) subject. Children in those
countries who add English as a subject when they start primary school and
KEEP it as a subject through grade 12 speak better English than even Indian
children who have been raised in an English-medium school their whole lives.
A
friend of mine teaches Psychology of Learning at the University of Maryland
(in America). She explains that the reason the above situation happens is
because when you learn English as ONE subject, you never hear it spoken by
anyone else other than your ENGLISH TEACHER, whose entire job is based on
speaking correct English. So you NEVER hear English from anyone other than
an expert. Principals routinely neglect checking up on English-speaking
skills of other subject teachers. The principal's logic is: "if the Science
teacher's English is good enough for the kids to understand, that's enough.
As long as the guy can teach Science, he's hired."
This is not just the case in India. It's a fact around the world that even
the most famous mathematicians and scientists have had very poor language
skills. It has to do with differences in the way artists' and scientists'
brains work, but that's another article altogether!
It would behoove ALL Karnataka's children to get their schooling in
Kannada-medium with English taught as a subject, so that the only English
they hear (at least while in school) is that which is 100% grammatically
correct.
An added bonus is that they get exposed to the rich treasures of the Kannada
language, which I have noticed in my recent visits seems to be dying out for
lack of use and encouragement.
It's a tragedy, but the good news is, it's reversible! If more schools
adopted the policy of keeping English as a subject to be taught only by
well-qualified English teachers, children could be more fluent in Kannada
AND English. This would not only increase the younger generation's economic
opportunities, but also help them stay connected to their cultural roots!
Priya Bharathi Joshi
Back to Come on Kannadiga
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