Belated wisdom

With a swelling tide of children fleeing its free Marathi medium to fee-charging English-medium schools, the Maharashtra government's state education ministry as its counterpart in Karnataka  is belatedly admitting the historical error of excessive language chauvinism. In early June it issued a government resolution (GR) introducing written English as the second language in all Marathi medium schools from class I onwards, effective from the new academic year starting July. Hitherto only basic spoken English was taught in class I with written English and annual examinations in the subject starting from class III. The GR will benefit 2.5 million students who will start attending class I of Marathi medium schools across the state this year. The GR was followed by another announcement of the ministry advising Marathi medium schools to switch to English as the medium of instruction for maths and science from class I onward. "The proposal is under consideration and may be implemented at the earliest," says Vasant Kalpande, chairman of the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. "Subjects like maths and science are objective in nature and can be easily learned and understood in English in Marathi medium schools. However subjects like social sciences may be difficult to learn in the language because they are subjective (sic)." According to education ministry sources, the latter proposal will necessitate recruitment of 100,000 full-time English fluent teachers for Marathi medium schools. But with the academic year having already begun in the state, implementing this proposal is obviously a non-starter. Meanwhile the decision to introduce English as a second language from class I in Marathi medium schools in the state is final. This decision makes Maharashtra the first state in the country to introduce English as a second language at this early stage. Somnolent officials of the ministry woke up to the need for English language teaching when a departmental study indicated that almost 300,000 Marathi medium students in class V, couldn’t write a simple sentence in English. Ironically the proposal to teach English from class I was made seven years ago but was fiercely opposed by the state’s language chauvinists and sub-nationalists with a vested interest in the (substandard) Marathi textbooks publishing racket. But with another generation of hapless Marathi medium students stuck in low-end jobs or making the rounds of employment agencies, the demand for English language  if not medium  education has become irresistible, and even poorest households are switching their children to fee-charging English medium schools. Parental preference for English medium education is graphically illustrated in downtown Mumbai's Robert Money School, (estd.1836) which offers students a choice between English and Marathi medium education. Despite primary and secondary Marathi medium education being wholly subsidised by the government, while English medium education is priced at an average Rs.250 per month, enrollment in the former is only one-fourth the English medium section. Moreover, Marathi medium schools in the state report an annual 10 percent decrease in admissions every year. While the state government's belated decision to introduce teaching-learning of English commonly acknowledged as the lingua franca of business in India as well as the world  from class I has been widely welcomed, educationists accustomed to the slapdash diktats of education ministry officials advise caution. Comments Arundhati Chavan, president of Mumbai's Parent-Teacher Associations United Forum: "The introduction of English as the second language from class I is overdue. But mandating it as the medium of instruction for science and maths is not a good idea. Children not taught English in nursery and pre-schools will find it difficult to switch to learning maths and science in English, especially if they are first generation learners. Secondly, parents might reason that if a child has to tackle two subjects in English, then she might as well do the entire syllabus in the language and switch to an English medium school." This apart, recruitment of an estimated 100,000 teachers before the start of even the next academic year is difficult. Meanwhile the education ministry has announced that it is acquiring software to train teachers who will learn to perfect their English pronunciation from Linguaphone discs and CDs. But is seems unlikely that the plan can be effectively implemented in a hurry. Almost half a century's myopia can't be corrected so quickly. Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)