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Teaching mother tongue in a unique way

BERHAMPUR: An 82-year-old retired teacher, Indupuri Gavaraju has taken up the mantle to make children studying in English medium schools learn their mother tongue Telugu and stories from Indian epics.

She has started free summer classes for small children at her home at Gandhi Nagar for the purpose.

These classes would continue till the end of summer vacation. Ms. Gavaraju said she was worried about the lack of knowledge of mother tongue among the new generation. “It is a disgrace that a child from Oriya family is unable to read and write in Oriya and a Telugu child is also not able to read and write in his mother tongue,” she said.

Most of the parents said that their children do not know their mother tongue as they study in English medium schools. Whichever school one may read but knowledge of mother tongue should be a pride, Ms. Gavaraju said. She also added that young children are also not acquainted with the Indian culture and epics.

As she used to be teacher of Sanskrit and Telugu at the Government Girls High School in the city, she is well versed in stories from Indian classics. The children coming to her to learn Telugu find her story telling skills to be the greatest attraction.

Class IV student, A. Avaya said Ms. Gavaraju was almost like the granny she had come across in stories. “I feel happy that I would now be able to read Telugu story books in my home,” she said.

Her mother A. Aparna said she had always wanted her children to learn Telugu but never had the time to teach her. She was thankful to the efforts of Ms. Gavaraju, who despite her advanced age had decided to teach mother tongue to the children from Telugu families.

The classes are quite informal where the children learn reading and writing in Telugu.

They have their daily quota of stories from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Bhagavat. They are also learning slokas from scriptures.

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