All in the name of languages

Instead of accepting English as a priceless gift left to us by the British, our jingoism has turned it into a war.

There is a story in the Old Testament about the city of Babel where everyone spoke only one language  until God scattered them across the face of the earth with a bewildering cacophony of voices and tongues.

Did the author of that story visualise a country called India where, thousands of years later, a billion plus people would be speaking hundreds of mind boggling languages and dialects which cannot even be categorised? According to the last census report, 141 languages have been officially recognized, out of which a mere 18 are scheduled.

Some 216 known mother tongues have also been identified, in addition to another 96 unspecified ones. This list does not include the torrent of dialects that are spoken across the length and breadth of the country. For example, if Kannada is the official state language of Karnataka, there are more than 20 other vernacular tongues of the same language spoken in different pockets of this State. In this incredible maze of languages and dialects, how does one identify a common mother tongue to be taught to a child in school?

When the Government of Karnataka ordered that the medium of instruction in schools should be Kannada or the mother tongue, did it consider children who spoke Aruvu Kannada or Soliga Kannada or Havyaka Kannada? Why impose only one form of the language? That would be coercion.

Yet, if all the dialects were prescribed, where are the text books and teachers to teach them? Both are in short supply even to teach the existing language syllabus. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling, therefore, that the choice of language should be left to parents has not come a day too soon.

It not only reversed an unconstitutional order, but it also recognised the child’s privilege to learn in the language of his/her choice. Children cannot be deprived of advancement and opportunities of growth in an increasingly shrinking world because of misplaced patriotism. When governments turn chauvinistic about language, they hurt future generations. This is common in all developing nations, but more so in countries that were colonised.

English, despite its several advantages, is still regarded as the language of colonialism in this country. Instead of accepting it as a priceless gift left to us by the British, our jingoism has turned the issue into a war where progress and scholarship stand threatened.

The very fact that parents who were themselves deprived of such education go to any lengths to secure that coveted seat in an English medium school, exposes the  fallacy of governments motivated by populism rather than patriotism. The desire to learn a language other than your own  does not show a lack of respect for your mother tongue.

If parents want their wards to study in English, no government can force them to do otherwise. After all, governments take decisions which are only politically correct. The ruling of the apex court has put things in proper perspective.  

Long battle

The war of languages has been fought for 30 long years in Karnataka. It started in 1984 with the recommendation of the Gokak Committee to make Kannada the sole first language in all schools.  Religious minority schools moved courts then against this gross violation of the Constitution. The government lost the battle.

Come 1989, the state government issued another order making Kannada compulsory in all schools. This time, the linguistic minorities revolted and some of their schools went to the highest court in the land against the government order. Five years later, the state government issued yet another order (based on the H Narasimhaiah committee) that every child should learn in his/her mother tongue.

This time, the resistance came  not from the schools or the linguistic groups, but from the parents themselves!

They questioned the validity of such an order which was neither practical nor pragmatic. Where were the teachers, the text books and the facilities to make such a study possible? The government lost again in its quest to uphold the supremacy of one language. And the war continues. It is a meaningless war because opportunities of growth, added to laudable ambitions of the new generation, should take precedence above everything else.

The Supreme Court has wisely advocated that the responsibility of educating children should rest with their own parents. As for the preservation of a state language and the culture associated with it, schools should be encouraged to teach it as a subject to enable children to assimilate that culture.

But, it cannot be a medium of instruction which will only disable students in their mobility and careers.
While it is true that tradition and ethnicity cannot be overlooked, individual freedom must also be respected. This is what the highest court in the land has so well defined.