Saving academic language from decline

CBSE’s advisory on minding the language in campuses is much-needed and timely, writes P John J Kennedy

Of late, educational institutions in India have been grappling with a very different concern — the use of inappropriate or trivialised language. This is not limited to college and university students but is noticed across the entire spectrum of India’s education system.

Colleges, for instance, often report that students enrol for programmes with serious gaps in communication skills, a casual approach to academic writing, and a limited awareness of context-appropriate language. In the past, these were seen as minor issues. But today, institutions have realised that they are affecting learning quality, employability, and even campus culture.

Against this backdrop, the recent CBSE advisory, which highlights the presence of slang, disrespectful expressions, and social-media-driven distortions in classrooms, is not merely timely but part of a much larger challenge confronting Indian education.

It is common knowledge that what begins in school inevitably travels upward. College teachers often lament that many first-year undergraduates struggle to speak or write clearly, shift registers depending on the audience, or distinguish between informal online language and the expectations of academic discourse.

Seminar conversations, classroom submissions, and even official communication frequently resemble the clipped, emoji-punctuated tone of digital platforms. Blaming students alone for this would be unfair. On the contrary, it has to be seen how deeply popular culture, entertainment media, and the frenetic pace of online interaction have reshaped everyday speech.

And this is precisely why CBSE’s intervention matters. To be effective, any reform must begin early. Schools are where children first learn not only grammar and vocabulary but also the social ethics of communication. Here, you learn how to disagree respectfully, how to listen, how to speak without hurting others, and how to build trust through words.

By drawing attention to slang that normalises disrespect, or expressions that trivialise serious issues, CBSE is driving home an important point: that language is not just a tool but a habit of mind. If young learners internalise careless or aggressive modes of expression, psychologists observe that these behaviours become difficult to unlearn later.

The concern, however, should not be moral panic. Instead, it is recognising that language is shaping and being shaped by a rapidly changing society. All stakeholders, including parents, teachers, and counsellors, report a growing gap between the structured world of curriculum and the unregulated world of social media. Today’s students are exposed to a constant stream of content that rewards shock value, sarcasm, or instant reactions, often without reflection.

When the same culture enters the classroom, it inevitably causes serious harm. Attention span is reduced, and empathy is weakened, blurring the boundaries between peer talk and formal speech. As a result, academic institutions at every level are dealing with the fallout of a linguistic environment that may be exciting but also very disruptive.

Hence, the CBSE advisory should be viewed as an attempt to restore balance, rather than to police language. Schools cannot, and should not, shield children from their cultural worlds. But they can create an environment where they develop a sense of when informal language is harmless fun and when it becomes exclusionary, hurtful, or inappropriate.

Schools must help learners appreciate that language evolves continuously, but also teach them that evolution need not mean erosion. They must also equip children with the necessary confidence to communicate effectively across different contexts. Indeed, this is a skill that will ultimately serve them well in higher education and professional life.

How should higher educational institutions approach this advisory? Actually, it serves as a reminder of the foundational work students are expected to have received or missed by the time they arrive in colleges and universities. In fact, without early intervention, higher education institutions are likely to spend time repairing basic communication skills rather than developing advanced ones.

However, when schools take responsibility for nurturing respectful language practices, higher education institutions benefit from cohorts that are better prepared for extremely crucial 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, collaborative learning, and civic engagement.

This is why CBSE’s new initiative deserves total support, because it also recognises and communicates an important message: the quality of language in the classroom, or even outside of it, is not a superficial issue but a reflection of deeper social and educational patterns. And it acknowledges that shaping responsible communicators begins long before students enter college. If schools genuinely comprehend the real import behind this move and take the lead, the entire education system, right up to universities, stands to gain.

(The writer is a former professor and dean, Christ University, Bengaluru)