The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Creating a script for success

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Tuesday, Apr 08, 2008
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Creating a script for success

Staff Reporter

Teacher has created a script with 18 alphabets

‘The alphabets can denote any word presently used in any language’
Kumar says he is developing scripts for Tulu, Kodava and Konkani

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Innovative teacher: Charles Henry Kumar showing a poem written using the script created by him.

BANGALORE: At a time when children are burdened with more schoolwork than they can handle, why should they have the additional task of learning so many alphabets? It was this question that inspired a teacher from Mandya to create his own script.

This script has only 18 alphabets, as against 26 in English and 52 in Kannada and can be adapted to any language, claims its innovator, Charles Henry Kumar, who teaches mathematics and science in St. Joseph’s Convent High School, Mandya.

A native of Martalli near Kollegal, Mr. Kumar has been in the profession for 18 years and has a postgraduate degree in English.

“The script revolves around the concept of life itself, beginning from evolution and going till the very end,” Mr. Kumar told The Hindu.

The alphabets, with minor additions, could denote any word that is presently used in any language, he says. “Nowadays students have to learn and remember several more things than what their predecessors had to remember, say ten or five centuries ago. It is not good to burden children who are already stressed and so I decided to create the new script,” he added.

If the alphabets are simplified and their number is reduced without affecting the originality, students can utilise their time and energy for other constructive issues, he says.

Remembering this script is very easy, Mr. Kumar says. Without telling his students that the alphabets were created by him, Mr. Kumar presented it as a memory test.

He found that more than 50 per cent of the students reproduced 16 alphabets while 25 per cent students reproduced all the alphabets. The teacher says he has a great love for Tulu, Kodava and Konkani which have a long history but no script of their own.

While these alphabets could be used for all these three languages, he is developing exclusive scripts for each of them, Mr. Kumar says.

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