India moves to end primary teaching in English as Modi unveils major education reforms

[Joe Shearer]

$hit, curse this move! I used to enjoy my chats with the Indian call centre staff.
Modi you wanker.

<sigh!>

At least I can agree with your last three words.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Personally, I love the devnagri script and it’s use of the “line” above to maintain neatness.

Though if it’s calligraphy, nothing beats the Arabic script.

<Hmmmmph!>

We are quite OK with the aesthetics of our Bengali/Assamese eastern script. Thank you very much for noticing.

 

[Shantanu_Left]

I myself prefer reading a Marathi book that has been translated to English but it doesn't mean I hate the Devanagiri script. It's just that my brain has been accustomed to reading only in English. This is really basic actually and you having problems with Devanagiri is understandable but making fun of it is laughable.

Inspite of my preference, I read perfectly without stumbling in Devanagiri be it Hindi or Marathi.

That's what. People who are raised in a different upbringing will find more comfort in a different language. I am extremely comfortable in Urdu, both spoken and written, even a Pakistani-oriented Urdu which many Indians will find challenging.

How would you like it if some nutcase from Allahabad or Lucknow tells you to mandatorily speak their shud Hindi. It's actually the case very often. I went to see Taj Mahal in Agra a few years ago. You slip outside the Taj-Fatehpur Sikri corridor a bit...you'll be completely lost. No English signboards anywhere. Nothing of that Devanagri made sense to me (I do understand Devanagry BTW). It was just an alien Martian language.

Of course, that kind of Hindi is an artificial language. It has few takers outside that region. As I said in my first post on this thread, standard Hindi is a creation of Scottish East India Company, it was actually created in Fort William, Calcutta. That is why it has less reception among non-Hindi speakers of India. Not even in Maharashtra where Devanagri script is common. The language just sounds fake to me.

Language imposition in a diverse country like India is wrong. With the erasure of statehood of J&K, the Modi-vadis are trying to destroy the Kashmiri language. I spoke about it in another thread...why Kashmiri was well-protected under Urdu. Now that Union territory speaks Bhayya Hindi. It's nothing but cultural genocide of Kashmir people by that bastard Amit Shah.

 

[itsanufy]

<Hmmmmph!>

We are quite OK with the aesthetics of our Bengali/Assamese eastern script. Thank you very much for noticing.

Sir have you gone through the PDF of NEP. What's your opinion about it?
I never thought such a rich thing can come out from the stables of BJP.

https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Draft_NEP_2019_EN_Revised.pdf

 

[omegalamba7XL9]

And WTF is with 2 Indians talking to each other in english when you have your own languages?

Yet you are communicating to other Indians in English on this forum. Its the Indian in you.

 

[Peshwa]

<Hmmmmph!>

We are quite OK with the aesthetics of our Bengali/Assamese eastern script. Thank you very much for noticing.

I can sense when I'm being corrected, so correct me before I make a fool of myself on the world wide web. lol

Also, since you bring up Bengali..
Hindi has never sounded sweeter than from the tongue of a native Bengali speaking woman. My personal observation.

 

[Shantanu_Left]

Yet you are communicating to other Indians in English on this forum. Its the Indian in you.

Damn everyone speaks English. When a German and a Spaniard meet, they speak English. When a Chinese and a Laotian meet, they speak English.

WTF is with this dude. Of course, Hindi imposition in a diverse country like India is plain wrong. Nobody wants that fake artificial language except people living in the states of UP, MP, Rajasthan.

 

[Shantanu_Left]

I can sense when I'm being corrected, so correct me before I make a fool of myself on the world wide web. lol

Also, since you bring up Bengali..
Hindi has never sounded sweeter than from the tongue of a native Bengali speaking woman. My personal observation.

I want to learn Bengali too. Amazing language.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Sir have you gone through the PDF of NEP. What's your opinion about it?
I never thought such a rich thing can come out from the stables of BJP.

https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/Draft_NEP_2019_EN_Revised.pdf

Excellent fertiliser.

 

[Shantanu_Left]

<Hmmmmph!>

We are quite OK with the aesthetics of our Bengali/Assamese eastern script. Thank you very much for noticing.

I'm still not convinced that super blowhard Arnab Goswami is not Bengali. He looks like a babu moshai.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Yet you are communicating to other Indians in English on this forum. Its the Indian in you.

Commenting in poor English would be the stereotype. For instance, using 'its' rather than 'it's'.

 

[omegalamba7XL9]

Because west didn't come to Indian aid
This is CIRCULUM STRIKE
OR
LANGUAGE STRIKE
Stealthy and quick

 

[sms]

You don't get it, do you?

There was a fox that was singularly unfortunate and got into a fight with a pack of dogs. They mauled him and bit off his tail before he managed to bite his way out and escape. After a few days in hiding, the throbbing in his hinder parts eased, the scabs healed and he felt normal again. He came out of hiding and went hunting.

As soon as the other foxes saw him, they doubled over laughing."Look, look at his butt end!" they howled in delight, and held their sides.

The fox drew himself up to his full height and assumed a lofty expression.

"You peasants know I've come back from a long stay abroad," he said.

"No, we don't. What's that got to do with that red stump that you're wiggling at us?" they said, guffawing at him.

"Nobody there has tails any more. It's the fashionable thing to do with upper class foxes. If you knew anything, you would get rid of those ugly, hairy bits too," he said very grandly.
_______________________________________________________________
If I don't know English, why should these others know English?

That's real dark humor, ironic but real.
It's a skill come naturally with time! Most of seniors by God's grace excel in this skill.

 

[Joe Shearer]

What is your mother tongue and what script do you use?

What is yours? You claim to be Indian, your locational claims have been checked by the admin., but you know only superficialities about the city where you stay, the kind that you would get in a primer called Hyderabad made easy. So what's your mother tongue, and what script do you use?

 

[fitpOsitive]

India moves to end primary teaching in English as Modi unveils major education reforms

PM says new national policies will promote Indian languages first, but the opposition says it could jeopardise its 'edge over other countries in employability'

Adam Withnall

32 minutes ago

India will for the first time since independence stop offering primary schools where the main language for teaching is English, the government announced, part of the first major overhaul of national education policy in the country for 34 years.

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet approved the new National Education Policy on Wednesday afternoon, and the government said it would pave the way for “transformational reforms” in schools and higher education.

Parents and teachers speaking to The Independent largely hailed the measures, which include a commitment to increase spending on education to 6 per cent of GDP and reforms designed to reduce the pressure on children around all-important board exams at 16 and 18.

But the most controversial announcement is that primary schools, both private and government-run, will “where possible” be required to conduct lessons in either the children’s “mother tongue” or “regional language” - in other words, not English.

English-medium schools are traditionally favoured by the more wealthy and middle class Indian families, with proficiency in the language seen as opening up gateways to greater international opportunities for higher education and beyond.

By contrast, Mr Modi said the new policy would “promote Indian languages”, a move which is likely to be welcomed by the prime minister’s nationalist base. Indian media reported that the RSS, the far-right youth wing of the ruling BJP party, was heavily involved in drafting the policy and that many of its suggestions were adopted.

But the plan stops short of naming Hindi as a recommended language for schools to teach in, something that had featured in a draft version published in June last year. While Hindi is spoken by an estimated 43 per cent of Indians, only a little over half of those identify it as their “mother tongue” and many southern states are vociferously resistant to what they see as the imposition of the language by the north.

Dr Shama Mohamed, a spokesperson for the opposition Congress party, said on Thursday that India “has an edge over other countries in employability due to our better English”.

“The decision to enforce mother tongue as the medium of instruction till class 5 (age 11) in the new education policy may undo this advantage and might hurt the poor who can't afford private tutors for English,” she said.

Shivani Gandhi, a Bangalore-based teacher and expert in curriculum design, agreed that the new policy would effectively amount to a “ban” on English-medium primary schools and that “the government wants to highlight [this] for the people who are more right wing”. “[They] are going to say 'Hey, they're going to promote [Hindi]!' And there are more than enough people who care about that.”

But she questioned how much practical impact this would have on standards of English in the country, saying such schools would probably rebrand as “multi-language” while maintaining the levels of English tuition demanded by parents.

“From my experience, the one language that school leaders take most seriously and want to improve is English,” Ms Gandhi told The Independent. “From the perspective of a teacher and a parent, they would still want their child to learn English and therefore I don't think the school is going to risk being ostracised because they aren't keeping up to date. I don't think English is going anywhere.”

Delhi-based parents Balaji and Roshni said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the new education policy, and welcomed the move on languages having already chosen a Hindi-medium school for their son Tavish when he enters the first grade in September.

“The evidence is that children at ages three to eight can process as many as six languages simultaneously, and this ability is lost as we age,” said Balaji. “So there will be no loss of proficiency in any language as long as all are taught. English must certainly be taught. It just need not be the medium of instruction.”

“Our view on this is an unpopular one in our peer group,” said Roshni. “Indians are obsessed with English and I know that most parents prefer sending their kids to schools that have English as a medium of instruction.

“[But] we consciously chose [a Hindi-medium school] because we wanted Tavish to be proficient in Indian languages and not grow up speaking like Peppa Pig.”

Other policies announced under the education plan include the promise of a new national curriculum drafted by a single central body, and new national commissions to oversee university standards and research.

There will also be a greater focus on vocational training and life skills, both at a school and higher education level, with universities encouraged to establish new multi-disciplinary degrees with a “creative combinations of subjects” closer to the US system of graduating with majors and minors.

Ms Gandhi said that while she had concerns about some elements of the plan, overall she would “rate it at a 7.5/10 for intent”. “Even if only 10 per cent of it is implemented successfully, if we have a more robust early childhood curriculum, if we have an integration of 20 per cent new skills, and if there is more flexibility in higher education formats, I think that would be a radical change for India,” she said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...g-english-modi-education-reform-a9646246.html

Good shot. Nice. I really want to admire this step.