The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Decision on English in schools hailed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Decision on English in schools hailed

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Six Congress legislators, including the former Ministers for Education B.K. Chandrashekar and G. Parameshwar, have come out in support of the Government's decision to teach English in Kannada-medium primary schools and Kannada in non-Kannada-medium schools from the first standard.

The other legislators are Kumar Bangarappa, A.B. Patil, M.B. Patil and Parameshwar Naik.

In a statement to the press on behalf of the six, Prof. Chandrashekar said the decision should not be viewed as one inimical to the interests of Kannada. The case pending before the Karnataka High Court was in connection with the medium of instruction in schools and not the teaching of either English or Kannada.

The legislators asserted that there was no merit in the stand of some Kannada writers that the teaching of English from the first standard would harm Kannada language. Experts in the fields of education and languages had expressed the view that children in the age group three to six found no difficulty in learning one or two languages, besides their own mother tongue. Difficulties in learning new languages arose only after the age of seven.

In support of the teaching of English, Prof. Chandrashekar said that the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore, had noted that even in rural areas 248 English words were in regular use among children, parents and others. A study conducted by it showed that 75 per cent of those interviewed, who spoke Kannada at home, favoured the teaching of English from the first standard.

The former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachalaiah had said children from the disadvantaged sections should be taught English from a very early stage. The noted playwright Chandrashekar Kambara, nominated MLC, had noted that the teaching of English earlier than the third standard would not harm Kannada.

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