Empowering the Vulnerable Sections of Society Through English
Aug 03 2010
Posted by admin as Uncategorized
“Neither Asoka’s Sanskrit nor Akbar’s Urdu united the country as did the Englishman’s English”, said Mr K M Balasubramaniam, who had translated Tirukkural into English (vide, The Indian Express, dated November 6, 1967). “It is English that has helped develop Tamil”, he added to prolonged cheers. In a scathing attack on those who opposed English, he said they were against English either because they did not know it or their sons could not learn it. The Tamil scholar who spoke for about 20 minutes received a thunderous ovation when he concluded. He was speaking at the Convention on English. His spirited speech was frequently applauded by the predominantly student audience.
The highest court of the land, viz., the Supreme Court of India, views English as the flag-bearer of knowledge economy. The Uttar Pradesh government, after more than six decades, has realised that the Queen’s language can also play the role of a ’social leveller’. Anyway, it is better late than never, as they say. The UP government, headed by Ms Mayawati, has made English compulsory in primary schools. The Sunday Times of India dated January 17, 2010, which carried the news (of the UP government mandating the inclusion of English in the primary school curriculum) has quoted educationist Bhalachandra Mungekar as saying, “jobs create vertical and horizontal social mobility while caste, which is immobile, played an ascriptive role. With English came new skills and the system is fast becoming achievement-oriented”. One cannot agree more with Mungekar. By mastering English, those belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes would be better placed to bag jobs offered by the new economy. Incidentally, the UP Chief Minister Ms Mayawati’s icon, Dr B R Ambedkar viewed English and the urban landscape as the twin tools for achieving social liberation. He regarded English as the game changer.
Related posts
