Will India soon be referred as A East Britain with No Self Identity…?????  

May Be… Yes…The reason is very simple. The language you speak and the place you come from is part of your identity. For example, today we say, I am Gujarathi because I speak Gujarathi language at home even if I may be living in Rajasthan. So people around you in Rajasthan still know you as Gujarathi, which means your identity is intact due to your mother tongue. So think what will happen when every citizen of India starts speaking in English, it may diminish the existence of current regional and national language, which ultimately means your identity.

Very Soon India’s Mother Tongue May Be English and Not Hindi………!

The reason again is very simple. If father and mother speak in English all the time then English will be child’s mother tongue, isn’t it?

You may not realize now but visualize India 20 - 40 years from now when every father and mother will speak only English ALL THE TIME then the mother tongue of child born to those parents will OBVIOUSLY be English. That means very soon India’s mother tongue will be English and not Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Rajasthani, Marwari, Bengali.

And this is how; OUR IDENTITY will shift from Indian, Telugu, Marthi, Punjabi, Gujarathi, Bengli, Rajasthani, Marwari, Kannadiga TO “East Britisher” whose mother tongue is English.

We have seen this happening once with Sanskrit and Devnagari script. Do you want to see all these beautiful and wonderful languages following path of Sanskrit?

Very soon a vegetable vendor, a house maid, a sales person in small shops, a chaiwala on the railway platform, chanawala on sea shore and in the park will start speaking in English because about two or few more generations from now, everyone will be learning and speaking everything in English. Will that scenario trigger an option on international platform to rename India as “East Britain”? Will India surrender the self esteem provided by Hindi and other regional languages to Britisher’s English?

Imagine this and see if you like it. Very soon, a person born in Britain will be called as “West British” and a person born in India will be called as “East British”. This may seem little exaggerated today but still possible to be reality one day. Looking at the rate Indians are falling for English, people of India may be compelled for changing the name of country from “India” to “East Britain” OR “India” a.k.a. “East Britain”.

Is English Really Better Option For Our Own Mother Tongue?

Do we not have strong regional language so that we need to take support of foreign language to express our thoughts or communicate with others?

Please wake up! Just think, my friends…….    

We can prevent this if Hindi is also insisted by society as the commonly accepted and appreciated language of communication for all activities. Why the business language should be English when the entire business is done by Hindustanis? When every person sitting in the business conference is Hindi/Indian then why speaking in Hindi is out of business etiquettes?

English is helping to integrate all nations in the world to come on one platform called “Global”. Similarly, Hindi can help entire India, which is multi-cultural, multi-lingual, to integrate as one diaspora with “INDIA” as an identity. The same way, China, Italy, Iran, Iraq, Germany, France have their own identity. As speaking French language in France is not considered as a shameful act but pride then why speaking Hindi in India is a shameful or difficult act? Why the hoardings on the streets have to take help of English to speak Hindi? Why simple product like Biscuit wrapper has to have name in English when it is known that that biscuit will be consumed by an Indian whose national language is Hindi. 

Kids are often seen making fun of those who cannot speak fluent English. Many parents also express surprise if some of their colleagues or friends opt for education in regional language or mother tongue instead of English medium education. With more and more international schools coming into India, every parent wants to send their kids where their child can speak and learn fluent English and gain class-apart education. In metro cities, you may just spot young kids having a conversation in English even if they share the same mother tongue. Some even feel embarrassed to talk or converse in their mother tongue and prefer English language to match with the other kids of their age. This scenario is very common in India where even in schools English language is given most importance; kids are taught to converse in English even at home to get a good hold and command over the language.

Many parents and subsequently, their kids also, feel pride in showing-off their English fluency and they look down at people who lack the command over language. Some parents often tell their kids that if they do anything other than English, they would only be fit to drive bullock carts. Kids are also advised to stay away from their friends who can’t speak good English. This creates a divide among kids.  

If English speaking skills make anyone an intelligent and widely appreciated person then each and every citizen of Britain, Australia should be born intelligent, which we all know, is not true.

Parents forget how important it is for the child to be connected to his roots as well. Apart from gaining bookish knowledge in schools and institution, a child learns a lot from his own culture and mother tongue. He often grasps many important aspects that equally help in his overall development. Lot of preaching comes from local myths, cultural rituals, short stories told by grandma/grandpa, various group conversations by elders. But all these things are available mostly in regional language which is Grandma/Grandpa’s mother tongue.

So is English learning that difficult? Is learning English beyond the capacity of an average Indian student? The answer is simply NO as every born child in Britain knows English because it is their mother tongue.  So the issue really is that English teaching is not taken seriously in regional language schools. How can one learning language for eight years (Standard 5 – 12) not be good at it? Something is drastically wrong in the curriculum and system.

If every student coming out of regional school can speak fluent English with correct grammar and good vocabulary then he/she can participate and compete with anyone in any field at international level.  

Statistics

Data collected by the National University for Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) shows that the number of those opting for English medium from class I-VIII has grown by 150 per cent in these years, while the number of students opting for Hindi or other language grew by just 32 per cent. Why parents are willing to bear the burden of not-so-cheap private school education while rejecting the services of free education in a government run school which often offers either Hindi or the regional language?  

Why People Prefer English Medium

People have too many misconceptions about education, especially some wrong reasons to opt for English medium school. Let’s see some of them –

·         English medium schooling is considered as a status symbol.

·         Everybody is sending their kids to English medium; my kids shouldn’t be left behind in the competition.

·         Most of the information is available in English; regional languages don’t have good reference books.

·         English medium is very convenient in case of moving from one place to another.

·         English medium school imparts the best education.

·         Feel ashamed of going for regional medium school.

How These Above Misconceptions Are Wrong

We Indians have ionized English language as something like divine gift of nature. We feel proud while we communicate our ideas through this medium. So much so that you speak English and get ready to be worshiped. If you want to cast a spell on your counterparts, you can depend on this weapon. The young guns of the country are just becoming a part of this brigade. Though most of the institutes have English as their major subjects, but what helps a student achieve success is the quality of education got in the institution, may it be in any language.

Learning a new language does not take time, but excelling in what you learn is the key to success. There are many who cannot speak fluent English, but have excelled in their profiles to an extent of becoming role models for many youngsters.

Who Is At Fault?

The society and the school curriculum is at fault.

It is not that regional language students do not speak good English, they do but only when required whereas English medium students speak English all the time hence society thinks that they are good at English. At the same time, regional language medium student knows both languages equally good. However, not every regional language student turns out to be good at English equally and this creates problem. So here, school is at fault and not the child. Regional language medium School curriculum should aim at developing every student equally good at writing and speaking regional language as well as English.

Role Of Mother Tongue In Education

When it comes to the mother tongue of a nation, it is really very important to know its true value, its real meaning, most significantly using mother tongue while getting education is really praiseworthy. Mother-tongue plays a tremendously useful role in the education of a child. It has a great importance in the field of education. Therefore, mother tongue must be given an important and prominent place in the school curriculum. The other importance can be summed up into the following points:

·         Medium of expression

·         Easy to learn

·         Best medium of gaining knowledge

·         Also helps in emotional development

·         Source of original ideas

Why Education In Mother Tongue Is Important / Necessary

·         Research shows that education in mother tongue is more useful and effective for young kids. They understand what is spoken around them at home and helps them grasp any fact at a faster pace than learning something in an alien language which is often not even spoken at home by their parents.

·         Kids should not be deprived of cultural aspects of their mother tongue. Mother tongue means a bond with a culture and various social, religious and cultural aspects. The child is better gripped to his culture if he is aware of the mother tongue. They at times even express better in a known language. It is important for child to grow from all aspects and should be aware of his whereabouts. All these help in the overall development of the child which helps him in building a strong future.

·         Rich literary heritage of every language should be protected through mother tongue. Like every language has a history to it, the child should be told of such things which give him more knowledge about his surroundings. It helps the child to face the world confidently with a great backing of knowledge, understanding and importance of the mother tongue influence.

·         Kids should be taught to be proud of their mother tongue and education in mother tongue can help in that. The more the child is exposed to the language, the more he gets engrossed and interested to speak his mother tongue without any fear of being typecast.

·         On international level too, if French/German/Japanese citizens prefer to speak in their mother tongue, then why can’t we? They stick to their mother tongue with efforts and we admire them for this quality, which is in fact an irony as we don’t imitate their quality of taking Pride in Mother Tongue. Indians have the tendency of getting carried away with the western culture and the first sign of it is the strong influence of English language in the Indian education system.

·         Only English fluency doesn’t mean modernization. There are many who can speak fluent English but their knowledge and thought process lack something major. The language is just a medium to express those many thoughts in the mind of the child and language may be any, the message should be clear and accurate. Modernization comes from the way of thinking and not from merely talking in fluent English.

The Solution – Very Easy

The solution to overcome this problem and save the mother tongue is very simple ….

What should happen……..every regional language school in India should have special COMPULSORY curriculum of Hindi and English speaking and practice course.

And at the same time, every English medium school in India should have special COMPULSORY curriculum of regional language and Hindi speaking and practice course.

That’s it!

This simple solution will STOP the process of India becoming east Britain!!

This simple solution will make every child of India capable of exploring any part of India as well as the world!

This simple solution will break the whatsoever language barrier and open corridor of intelligence acceleration to every common Indian, which will play constructive role in making INDIA as next SUPER POWER!!!

So let us start the journey ……encourage and implement this curriculum in every school in India, irrespective of English or non-English medium school.

Ways To Popularize Use Of Mother Tongue

·         School education should give equal importance to mother tongue, English and the National language Hindi. Every subject should hold the same level in the education system. The child should not be biased towards any subject and this piece of knowledge can be imparted successfully in schools by stressing on the importance of all these subjects in the curriculum.  

·         Learning Geography/History/Civics in English does not make any student more intelligent than learning same in the regional language.  Then why not learn/teach same in the regional language? A balance of both the languages can be made possible by splitting the subjects in both languages. For example, English, Hindi and regional language should be taught at the same high level. History, Geography, civics should be taught in regional language. Maths and Science can be taught in English medium. This will help students to get practice all three languages equally.

·         The curriculum should include language speaking classes where student will practice to speak fluently as what they learned in regular language class.

·         Vernacular schools & teachers should ensure optimum impart of English language to kids.

·         English language knowledge can be checked through various tests, competitions and practice. Teachers should take an initiative in ensuring this.

·         New literature in every mother tongue should be encouraged not only by govt., but common man too. The feeling of learning and imparting mother tongue in schools should come from within. Only government pressing the need of teaching regional languages will have no effect on the children. But the right candidate should be appointed in schools to impart regional knowledge to the children.  

·         As the techniques are changing, the method of teaching is also taking a 360 degree turn. Earlier only books were the sole medium of imparting knowledge. But now with the advanced technology and a different thought process, kid’s interest can be glued to mother tongue through several language games, stories, poems, songs and so on.

Conclusion

Today this initiative may seem a small step, but eventually it will prove fruitful. We hope to see Indians speaking in their mother tongue with pride and English with confidence. Hoarding and advertisements are written in mother tongue and not English. Even if your kids are going to English medium school today, your grand kids will at least be able to speak their mother tongue, if we take some right and immediate steps at present. Our efforts may need five to ten years also and our patient and consistent urge in the cause. Otherwise, we will still be an unofficial colony of Britain – the English speaking country whose rulers will consider us as their step-baby because in spite being culturally and intellectually strong, we still are under their hidden rule and influence. India has a diverse and rich culture which should be nurtured, preserved, practiced and spread amongst the new generation so that they carry the jewels to the other generations. It is important for child to stay connected to his roots which can only be possible by making remarkable changes from today and every language or mother tongue plays the role of the umbilical cord that keeps us connected to our cultural roots.

Please give your opinions and promote our thoughts and suggest if possible,

What should be the English language curriculum in regional language schools?

What should be the regional language curriculum in English medium schools?

So that every child of India, village, town or city, gets equal opportunity of all-round progress…………Thanks