Rema Nagarajan5 December 2009, 03:54am IST
Dinesh Kumar, a
migrant from
Vaishali
district in
Bihar, is an
electrician in
Delhi. Though
making ends meet
is a challenge,
he is not
willing to send
his two children
to a Hindi
medium
government
school where
education
is free.
The school fees
and related
expenditure
exceed Rs 2,000
per month and
form a quarter
of the roughly
Rs 8,000 that
Kumar earns each
month. But he is
happy to foot
the expense. "I
want my kids to
study in an
English medium
school. If they
don't know
English, what
future will they
have?" asks
Kumar. It is
such reasoning
that helps
explain the huge
increase in
enrolment in
English medium
schools, making
it now the
second largest
medium of
instruction in
schools across
the country.
According to
estimates, just
over 10 per cent
of the Indian
population
speaks English.
But, it is a
growing number
and the rate of
growth outpaces
most vernacular
languages. The
big exception is
Hindi, which, of
course,
is in a
different league
with 41 per cent
of the country's
population
speaking in that
tongue.
KING OF QUEEN'S
The English
numbers are
grossly
underestimated ,
according to
Professor Arun
Mehta of the
National
University of
Education
Planning and
Administration (NUEPA)
that collects
data on children
enrolled in
schools across
the country. "Lakhs
of children
studying in
unrecognised
English medium
schools are not
counted in most
official data as
that only
includes
recognised
schools. So, the
numbers could
actually be much
higher," says
Mehta.
As many
countries enter
an 'educational
arms race' to
acquire and
maintain
international
competitiveness,
English assumes
even greater
significance. A
recent British
Council report
on the growth of
English across
the world says
that Asia,
especially India
and China , will
hold the key to
the long-term
future of
English as a
global language.
The report warns
that China could
outdo India in
English. China
is said to add
about 20 million
English speakers
each year with
its new policy
to make English
compulsory in
primary schools.
The report
observes: "India
has been
triumphantly
playing the
English card in
establishing its
global
leadership in
outsourcing and
the BPO
industry.
Furthermore, the
capital of the
new economy in
India,
Bangalore, lies
in the south
where regional
languages are,
in linguistic
terms, more
remote from
Hindi than
English, and
where use of
English has long
represented a
political
challenge to the
linguistic
hegemony of the
north."
In the southern
states in
particular - and
outside the
Hindi belt in
general -
English has
always found
greater
acceptance.
Education is
almost entirely
in English in
Nagaland,
Arunachal
Pradesh and
Sikkim. Over
half the
enrolment in the
other north
eastern states,
barring Tripura,
is in English
medium. Hindi
does not figure
at all in this
part of the
country.
LIP SERVICE
Some 60 years
after Hindi was
adopted as the
official
language - along
with English -
it has not quite
become the
country's link
language as was
envisaged. This
is despite the
crores that the
central
government
spends every
year on
promoting the "raj
bhasha" . The
resistance to
Hindi in
non-Hindi
speaking states,
which took the
form of language
riots during the
sixties, is
still far from
blunted, as many
recent events
have
demonstrated.
Even today, any
suggestion that
Hindi is the
"national
language" or "rashtra
bhasha" is met
with stiff
opposition and
those who
advocate its
cause are likely
to be given a
frosty look and
the riposte that
India being a
multilingual
country has no
single "national
language" . The
point was made
succinctly when
in the early
'90s Mulayam
Singh Yadav,
then chief
minister of
Uttar Pradesh,
wrote a letter
in Hindi to his
counterpart in
Kerala, E K
Nayanar. Nayanar
gave a telling
response by
sending a reply
in his language,
Malayalam. While
Hindi was not
widely spoken in
Thiruvananthapuram,
in Lucknow,
hardly anyone
knew Malayalam!
That linguistic
feelings run
deep became
evident recently
when Union
Railway minister
Mamata Bannerjee
bowed to
pressure from
various states,
especially
Maharashtra, to
hold the railway
recruitment
exams in local
languages.
Earlier, these
exams were
administered
only in English
and Hindi, which
non-Hindi
speaking states
argued, with
some
justification,
gave an unfair
advantage to
those from
Hindi-speaking
states.
A few years
back, Tamil Nadu
and West Bengal
requested that
Tamil and
Bengali be
allowed in their
respective high
courts. They
quoted Article
348(2) of the
constitution and
relevant
sections of the
Official
Languages Act
1963 that
entitle
Hindi-speaking
states like
Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh and
Rajasthan to use
their official
language - Hindi
- in their
respective high
courts. The
request was
rejected.
LINGUISTIC
LINK
In 2006, when
India asked for
Hindi to be
included as one
of the languages
used in the
United Nations,
saying it was
spoken by a
substantial
proportion of
the world
population, the
biggest
opposition to
this move
ironically came
from within
India, from the
non-Hindi
speaking states.
There couldn't
be clearer
evidence of the
fact that Hindi
is not yet
accepted as a
pan-Indian "link
language" .
Robert
Bellarmine,
former English
Studies Officer
of the British
Council, South
India, feels
that in India,
which is more
like a group of
nations, one
local language
being privileged
over another
would never be
acceptable.
"Hence, English
is useful, as
there is wider
political
acceptability.
It is also the
most preferred
language for
education and in
the job market.
For the
integrity of the
nation too, it
might be better
if English is a
link language,"
says Bellarmine,
who is also a
fellow at the
Center for
English and
Foreign Language
Studies in
Hyderabad. It's
a logic many
Indians would
find difficult
to refute.
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