A
fresh graduate is waiting anxiously for his turn to be interviewed at
a big multinational company. In another place, a post graduate
student is laboring to complete her thesis. Elsewhere, a secondary
school student was walking up to the stage rostrum to present his
views as a debater in his inter school debate competition. All three
characters are not related nor share anything in common except one.
All three were in the process of offering their ideas, viewpoints,
feedback, etc on a certain subject. To do that, they would need to
communicate in a language which could be understood by all. What is
that language? Well, English it is.
No
one needs any reminding on how ubiquitous and vital this language has
become in our daily lives. From science to arts, from politics to
religion and many other fields, the English language has taken an
irreplaceable position in regards to communication. With this, you
can imagine how we all will pull out all the stops to master this
language. Right? Or is reality a total contrast of this? Without
going into dry statistics or reviewing the decisions which has been
taken from pre-independence up to now, it can be agreed that the role
of English has gradually diminished in the education sector and even
other industries in our country. This is fine but for the fact that
its role has increased tremendously everywhere else.
Though
it is not pertinent to continuously analyze why the decline took
place, taking note of it can inform us on the steps to rectify and
reverse this decline. The main responsibility has to be shouldered by
those who devised and implemented education polices which has brought
this malaise. The constant changing and short term enforcing of
policies need to be stopped. Both the national language and English
are special in their own rights without comparing which is greater or
the so called threat that one has over the other. Strong decisions
need to be taken, for example the teaching of STEM subjects must be
in English. There are no two ways about this as all terminologies and
concepts are published worldwide using this language and need to be
grasped by our students. Detractors argue that learning in native or
national language is easier to understand and give examples of
developed nations using their mother tongue for dissemination of
knowledge but it should be noted that these examples are well versed
in English and are forefront leaders of their fields.
The
next in line will be the education institutions and parents. Schools
will need to take proactive steps to make learning in English more
fun and wholesome without adding fuel to the misconception that
English is hard or uninteresting. They will need to adopt
unconventional methods like maybe incorporating non-classroom
material like newspapers or even comics or by having indirect fluency
enhancing sessions like conducting a drama or play. In other words,
what is being stressed here is to promote the pleasure of learning
the beauty and intricacies of English without making it mundane or
tedious. Parents will also need to be main movers and shakers of this
change. No matter the existing policies or the non-existent helping
mechanisms in place, parents will have to provide the best options
for their children to master the language. They can arrange separate
or additional classes for English mastery or expose their children to
English clinics or seminar. They can also go the extra mile by
conversing only in English at home even if it is littered with
mistakes as nothing makes perfect better than practice.
Finally,
our whole nation and her citizens need to modify their mindset on
English. Firstly, there is nothing to lose but all to gain in
admitting the position of this language in the world today rather
than labelling it as a colonial language. If this primitive thinking
is not altered, it will only be to our own detriment rather than the
language’s. It is also not beneficial if we just stay away from
English just because of the initial hurdles and hiccups which is
natural to be encountered anytime a new or non-mother tongue language
is learnt. It is vital to stress here that both the national language
and English need to be seen and treated separately as they both serve
different needs and in no way will one displace the other. Not in the
past, not now and never will such a scenario take place. I conclude
this write up by requesting you to ponder on this. Like how a mother
would not forbid her son from venturing to the outside world to
improve himself, so too a motherland would not stand in the way of
her ‘son’; from learning a language which will ultimately serve
the son well.
Written by: Paramjothy Paramaselvam for Tuitionprovider.com
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