[lg policy] Make English the medium of instruction; mother tongue can be the second language

[Dave Sayers]

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-09-08/news/33696682

T K Arun's views on why English should not be the medium of education, published in these pages last
Saturday, may or may not have made many bristle. Or froth at the mouths. But surely, across leafy
corners of urban India, subtle tremors were felt as China was put on the damask for the 4 o'clock
ritual.

But the argument that effective teaching can only take place in the mother tongue is specious. This
does not mean that your correspondent is against the vernacular. In fact, he believes in not only
the mother tongue blooming, but a hundred others too. The lure of languages is mysterious, and an
individual's fascination with a particular tongue at times borders on the spiritual.

This writer, in his rather undistinguished life, has tried to grapple with languages as diverse as
Sikkimese, Lepcha, Arabic, German, French, Greek and Latin. And has been a failure in all!

Junking English as a medium of education will only push us back. It is the language of commerce,
politics and diplomacy. Globally. Why do we not want our children to get a leg up? There is a
qualitative difference in teaching a language (in school) as a first or second language. Considering
that all higher-study materials are in English, it only makes sense to be proficient in that
language so that the transition from school to college or college to university is smooth. Imagine a
young scholar grappling with the laws of thermodynamics while at the same time trying to understand
the intricacies of English.

(One link to rule them all, One link to find them, One link to bring them all and in the darkness
bind them.)

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-09-08/news/33696682



Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University
and Visiting Lecturer (2012-2013), Dept English, Åbo Akademi University
dave.sayers at cantab.net
http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers
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