No imposition of Hindi on any state: Kasturirangan

NEW DELHI: Chairperson of the Committee on the new National Education Policy, K Kasturirangan, clears the air on the Hindi bias in the draft policy. He says the focus is on multilingualism and flexibility.

THE HINDI BIAS CHARGE..
We have recommended continuation of the three-language formula as the medium of instruction in schools, based on previous experiences, local aspirations, the extent of languages being spoken, availability of teachers. Since language is a very sensitive issue and the three language formula is already accepted by earlier policies, we should not tinker with that. We have nowhere said that there will be any imposition of language on any state. The state and school can decide on the languages. They can choose the mother tongue or a classical language plus English. That is the flexibility we are proposing. Tamil Nadu has the flexibility to offer Tamil, English, French or Odiya at school. Flexibility of the three languages is most important .In the first version of the report, there was a paragraph that led to some confusion and was interpreted as imposing Hindi learning on non-Hindi speaking states. To clear this confusion, we put out an alternate version which reflects our thoughts more clearly.

WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?

Our message is focused on multilingualism which was misinterpreted as Hindi emphasis. Multi-lingualism is one of the most important characteristics of the Indian system. We have said children should be exposed to three or more languages right at the pre-school level because they have immense capacity to learn languages then.

ON ‘PUTTING DOWN’ ENGLISH
The idea is not to berate English. We acknowledge it is a powerful tool of communication and we retained it in the policy for two reasons –– one, education, especially in sciences…various professional subjects are in English. Two, the language’s strong linkage in the international community. But we have emphasised on the richness of Indian languages. Learn science in English but to express those ideas better, local languages may be a better medium. So, two languages for subjects like science may not be a bad idea.

FOCUS ON INDIAN VALUES
India is a unique civilisation where the likes of Nalanda and Takshashila led knowledge societies for several millenia. We felt that most modern day Indian students do not have that feeling of pride and full understanding of the richness of Indian knowledge systems, traditions and wisdom. As we are growing into a trillion-dollar economy, the next question that will arise is ‘who am I, what is my place in the world?’ They must understand that they belong to a proud tradition.

ISN’T THIS INWARD LOOKING
India cannot be inward looking because we are part of the global economy. The policy recommends internationalisation of education by inviting students from abroad. There are several recommendations to strengthen India’s education system and make it compatible to global standards. Our three-tier higher education approach is reflective of the larger aim to ensure India makes a mark in the global world.

REVAMP OF SCHOOL BOARD EXAMS
These steps have to be built in slowly. School education is a 15-year exercise and we have advised a structured and modular approach to learning, conceptual understanding and then preparing students for a professional environment.

ACADEMIC RIGOUR
What do you define as rigour? Is scoring 99.5% academic rigour even if one doesn’t really understand the theory of evaporation or Boyle’s law? That is not quality education.