Monday, 21 February 2022 | Dr BKS Sanjay & Dr Gaurav Sanjay | Dehradun
The International Mother Language Day is celebrated by UNESCO every year on February 21. Parents are the first teachers of their children and these children then become the foundation stones of a nation.The stronger the base, the stronger is the nation. Every child has the right to learn, to be a useful member of society and to develop individual abilities to deal with any problem faced in day to day life.
Humans started communicating with a language almost a hundred thousand years ago. Every country in today’s time has its own national language for communication and administration. India being a diverse country, it is said that it has always been a multilingual country since the times of undivided India. Each region has its own language but none of the regions is considered to be truly unilingual. Sanskrit was the most prevalent language in ancient India. However, since 712 AD many Muslim invaders came into India, became rulers and introduced their own language. Since the early 17th century, due to British invasion, English had taken over Persian and other Indian languages.
Under Article 351 of the Constitution of India, the Union is duty bound to promote the spread and development of Hindi language, so that it may serve as a medium of expression among all Indians.Though officially, Hindi is our national language but in practice it is not so.
Education is a lifelong learning process but the learning done in childhood has much more significance because the brain is flexible in childhood and it can be moulded appropriately with much more ease during that time rather than adulthood. The learning process for a child should be in the language which he or she can understand and easily comprehend. Every child learns his first words spoken in his mother tongue. In childhood whatever is taught, the child usually grasps it easily and retains it forever. It is pertinent to mention that American educationist, Horace Mann has said that a former is worth of a thousand reformers.That is why it is very important to give quality education to the children.
It was one of the challenging problems for the founding fathers of our constitution to come to a consensus regarding which language should be our national language or even an official language of the Union. Finally, under a compromise formula embodied in article 343, Hindi and Devanagari script was accepted as the official language of the union with the international form of Indian numerals.
In view of the First Official Language Commission and under Article 343, in1963, the parliament enacted the Official Language Act, 1963 and even after 15 years of it, English continued to be used along with Hindi for all official purposes of the Union and also for transaction of business in parliament. Besides Hindi, our constitution also recognises 21 other Indian languages listed in the eighth schedule.The articles 343, 344, and 351 would show that the ultimate goal is to spread, develop Hindi and the gradual switchover to Hindi and use it for official purposes and as a link language but unfortunately Hindi language could not gain popularity over English language even after 75 years of independence.
Article 350A inserted by seventh amendment provides for local authority in every state endeavouring to extend adequate facilities for instruction in the mother language at primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups in a state. There was unnecessary hue and cry in southern states against National Education Policy 2020 which has given due importance to mother tongue stating- “wherever possible the medium of instruction in schools until Grade-V, preferably until Grade-VIII, should be the mother tongue or the local or regional language”. This is not the first time that we are changing the language but I presume that language has been changing since the origin of mankind. Any change cannot be realised until we succeed in transforming our society into one, in which equality, liberty, fraternity and spirituality will flourish in harmony with each other and it is only education which can transform the society gradually and easily.
Quality of the work depends upon the quality of the worker which depends upon the quality of education. The goal of education must be to develop the interest of a child in reading, writing and learning.The medium of instruction in school plays an important role in guiding and modifying a child’s personality because language is one of the basic needs for communication. Mahatma Gandhi used to say that language is like a mother. BR Ambedkar emphasised that it is education which will enlighten the human beings and fulfil the dream of every Indian.
There has been a false notion that the students of English medium schools do better and mastery of English language ensures success in life. The problem is not the medium of instruction but the quality of teaching. According to the Annual Status of Education Report put together in 2019 by Pratham, an education NPO, it was found out that only 16.2 per cent of children enrolled in Grade-I could read a grade-I level text, while only 39.5 per cent could add one-digit numbers orally in rural India.
Primary education is the foundation of development of any child. If children are having different mediums of instruction which are different than mother tongue then it will be difficult for children to learn and for teachers to teach.If primary education is given in mother tongue then the quality of education will improve because a child can grasp better, express better in his or her mother tongue and others can understand better if they know that mother tongue.It is suggested that the main thrust should be given to improve the primary education and it should ideally be given in mother tongue irrespective of type or place of school.
(Padma Shri recipient Dr BKS Sanjay is a senior orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Gaurav Sanjay is an orthopaedic surgeon. Views expressed are personal)
