Walking on two legs

By Kancha Ilaiah

In all schools three subjects should be taught in the regional

language and three should be taught in English

The medium of instruction at the school level has become an

issue of national debate as many sections of society are
demanding the introduction of English as the medium of
teaching in government schools and also that teaching of
English should begin from class I.

As of now almost all the government schools teach in the regional

languages and the private schools teach in English. The moral protagonists
of regional languages have been admitting their own children and
grandchildren to English medium convent schools. They want the rural
masses to preserve the sanctity and survival of regional languages like
Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and so on. This class has become
extremely hypocritical.

In evolving a language policy of the State an intellectual group that wants

to control the power of the state and civil society is using the notion of
mother tongue as a tool of manipulation. After the formation of the
linguistic states in India by dissolving several tribal and caste-group
languages, one language for a state began to be constructed.

But the evolution of such a singular regional language happened with a

policy of dual language in all states English for the rich and the regional
language for the poor. The dominant Sanskrit-centered regional language
as the main language with a definition of mother tongue and English as
the modernist language have come to stay in all states.

In the South Indian states there is no link language that enables the people
to communicate with one another. In North India Hindi has become a link
language.

For South India the possible link language is English and not Hindi. South
Indians can stop learning Hindi as one of the languages because it serves
no purpose. Using Sanskrit as an ornamental language should also be
stopped. The ruling class by and large the upper castes have become
the English-speaking ones. Even in the villages they admit their children to
English medium schools. The linguistic states, on account of widespread
use of English in urban areas, underwent a radical change.

English is mother tongue

Those who travel only in Indian domestic flights know that the expanding
upper and middle classes speak only in English with their children. English
has already become the mother tongue of these classes, who also happen
to belong mostly to upper castes. The political power and the industrial and
commercial economy have also gone into their hands.
I have been to many airports and cities in India. I have not seen any
regional language papers or other publications being supplied in the flights
operated by any airline. This class reads English papers and is considered
to be the most meritorious. More than anything, English gives them wider
exposure.

In my view this transition is good. Democratisation of this class to some

extent is also based on the change in their linguistic base.

Of course, their cuisine is strongly Brahminic. All air cabin staff confirm that
the Gujarat and Madras sectors are more vegetarian than other sectors.
This goes to show that a change in the language is not going to change
their food and other habits and cultures easily. I hope that would also
change soon.

If we take the historical and sentimental argument of the mother tongue,

the languages of small groups were submerged by the languages of the
larger groups. Advanced languages have overtaken the under-developed
languages as well. At each stage, changing of the language of a small
group into that of larger group has helped the people to overcome the
historical barriers of knowledge and communication. The discourse that
some language is foreign and colonial is nonsensical. It is a fact that
English has already become an Indian nationalist language.

Even regarding the birth and growth of a language there are several global
level patterns. Some languages have grown as part of the productive
cultural ethic of the people whereas some languages have come to the
people because of their migration or the colonial imposition of a language
by the new migrants. For example Sanskrit came to India with the Aryan
migration. Persian came into India with the migration of Muslims of Persian
origin to India. Similarly English came to India with the colonial migration
of the British. It has not just come to India, as some people are arguing,
because of one individual called Macaulay. A language gets introduced in a
particular historical context and it shall grow only if the socio-economic
conditions for its growth are conducive. English has grown like that in
India. Now nobody can throw it away.

Two-language formula

Hence the only option left for states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and Kerala is that at all levels they should go in for a two-language
formula. The regional and English mediums should be the two legs of the
education system. As of now the school children are being taught six
subjects both in government and private schools.

From class one to ten in both government and private schools, three
subjects should be taught in a regional language and three subjects should
be taught in English. This principle should apply to Urdu and other medium
schools too. Then the education system can stand on its two legs. All
courses can be taught in these two languages from class one to ten and in
whatever medium that is chosen by the student later as he/she becomes a
major. In higher education, the choice should be given to the student.
The state governments must spend liberally on the school education. More
teachers must be recruited. Gradually the gap between private and
government schools should be bridged.

The infrastructure of government schools should be improved. This is the

only course left for the rural masses.