Education, Language and Politics

One shouldn’t be surprised if the medium of education becomes a contentious issue in a country where people speak more than 120 languages and 19,500 dialects. Of the 120+ languages, twenty-two are recognized or official languages (8th schedule of the Indian Constitution). Hindi and English are the official languages used to conduct the central government’s business.

One can imagine the turmoil when a contentious issue is politicized (or is politics making it contentious?). The politics did not allow India to have a constitutionally declared national language even after 75 years of independence.

Language has become a controversial issue because politicians use it to show their political might instead of looking at it as a medium of getting knowledge. Whenever the education policy in India is discussed, the language dominates it.

Should the citizens be forced to accept Hindi and English as the only two languages for education? Or should they get a choice of the language for their children’s education? Should the states be free to impose their state language as the medium of instruction in schools? Should it be mandatory to impart education through the children’s mother tongue? Is the argument correct that children learn better if they learn in their mother tongue? How many languages a child should learn?

There cannot be commonly accepted answers to these questions. The puzzle of language as a medium of instruction should be solved using sound logic instead of politicizing or emotionalizing it.

A fundamental rule should be that every aspect of education should be the choice of students and their parents. (parents decide about the school education of their kids, and it is expected that the students make decisions, in consultation with parents, when they go for higher education). Of course, nobody can get unlimited choices anywhere. Therefore, even in education, students should have choices within a broad framework.

Policymakers and educational administrators must arrange to counsel the students and parents and help them make the right choices.

The broad framework regarding languages available in India is that the students can get education in Hindi, English or their state language. No government should disturb this framework to prove its political superiority.

Generally, the mother tongue of the majority of the domiciles of a state is the official state language. However, because of inter-state mobility, the mother tongue of many families is different from the official state language. Secondly, many upwardly mobile families consider speaking to their kids at home in their mother tongue substandard. The language of those families is English (which gives them the feeling of superiority). Therefore, the state governments should not impose the state language in the schools as a medium of instruction, arguing that the children learn better in their mother tongue. However, there is nothing wrong if the states ask all the schools to teach the state language mandatorily as one of the subjects. It is crucial to preserve and develop all our languages.

Irrespective of their educational, financial and social background, all parents want their children to attend English-medium schools because they believe their children can achieve something in life only if they study there. This mindset may spoil the children’s potential to become good students. Instead of joining the bandwagon, parents should select the medium of instruction for their kids that they find comfortable and choose the school accordingly.

Every child must learn English because it is an international language and is the language of business, science, and technology. However, for that reason, a child doesn’t need to get a school education in English. They can learn English as a subject. However, the teaching-learning of English as a subject should be effective to make students ready for higher education if that is in English. Many state governments have been offering higher education in Hindi and local languages for many years. Now, they plan to provide professional education (medical, engineering, management, pharmacy, architecture, etc.) in Hindi and other vernacular languages. There is nothing wrong with this if it is done successfully. However, they must ensure that students don’t get substandard education and remain behind the rest of the world.

A textbook and classroom instructions alone cannot effectively deliver higher professional education. Those who study in English have access to an enormous amount of reference material in addition to textbooks. Secondly, research publications are mostly available in English.

Do we have a definite plan to make the gigantic amount of reference material available in Hindi, conduct research and publish research findings in Hindi? The proponents of Hindi must ensure that they don’t make things complicated by translating every English technical word into a difficult Hindi word. If they do that, the students will find using the original English words easier than their Hindi translation.

A better and sensible approach would be to teach English effectively in schools as a subject to enable them to use it as a medium of instruction in their higher education.

Finally, I wish to appeal to all parents that, irrespective of their choices, they must not disconnect their kids from the Indian vernacular languages. These languages are an ocean of knowledge and our children must not miss the opportunity to benefit from that.