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Mother-tongue should be medium of instruction: experts

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, FEB. 8. Academicians and experts attached to the National Focus Group on the Teaching of Indian Languages arrived at a consensus that mother-tongue should be the medium of instruction in primary schools.

The group constituted by the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT) met at the Central Institute of Indian Languages and discussed various issues pertaining to the subject and expressed varied view points.

However, there was a near consensus among the panelists over the use of mother-tongue as the medium of instruction in primary schools and the teaching of the mother-tongue, the regional language, English, and a classical language as compulsory subjects at specified levels of school education.

The mandate for the group is to cogitate on what ails language education scene in the country and to suggest remedial action in terms of the languages to be introduced in schools. The group has to keep in mind the rich and diverse linguistic situation in the country and the three-language formula already in operation.

Ramakanth Agnihotri is the chairman of the group, and R.J. Sharma is its member-secretary. The other members are D.P. Pattanayak, Ramesh Kumar Pandey, Shamim Hanfi, Apporvanand, Mukul Priyadarshini, Tara Singh Anjan, Jamini Devi, Sylvanus Lamare, P.P. Giridhar, Chandrakant Patil, P. Basheer, Prahalad Roy, K.K. Misra, Rajesh Sachdeva, B.N. Patnaki, and N.H. Itagi. Four teachers of the Regional Institute of Education, Mysore, also attended the three-day meet.

The meet was held as a prelude to drafting the "Position paper," which the group has to submit to the NCERT.

Issues included the three-language formula and its fate; the school situation across the country; and the implications of the introduction of the mother-tongue, the regional language, English, Hindi and foreign languages at various levels. There was diversity of opinion among the members, who dwelt on important issues, such as the nature of language, learning materials, empowerment of minority and theories of learning, support systems, multi-linguism, bi-linguism, objectives of language learning, speech and script, among others.

The group will submit its report by March 2005.

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