- The subject matter may raise more than a few eyebrows from the conservatives, conventionalists, traditionalists, and people steeped in largely anachronistic/status quoist viewpoints concerning how things should be surging ahead in line with the fast-changing times. Looked from any angle, English has not only become the one all-binding language around the world, but also the most commonly spoken across the globe, connecting people seamlessly. As we know, English is an Indo-European language in the West Germanic group. It serves as the global lingua franca with over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide. It is the primary medium for international business, science, technology, and diplomacy, functioning as an official or dominant language in over 50 countries.
PC: India Today
- This being the case, the Indian obsession with promoting local languages calls for a pragmatic rethink. Make no mistake, we must accord primacy to our mother tongues without an iota of doubt. However, our policymakers’ insistence on a three-language policy (TLP) strongly deserves a relook and reset. As such, CBSE’s recent mid-session shock to Class 9 students betrays a larger inconsiderate disposition. The CBSE circular landed in mid-May. Saying that by July’s start, a three-language framework would be compulsory for Class 9 students. No reason provided, none at least that would explain the tearing hurry of affected students. They are mid-session. So indefensible is the timing that it’s drawn a squeak even from the rising BJP stalwart of Tamil Nadu, K Annamalai.
PC: Metro Vaartha
- Thankfully, the SC has agreed to examine whether the new policy has placed unreasonable pressure on resources and children. The lead petition before it complains, gravely, that ‘mandating a compulsory subject without textbooks, trained teachers, or an assessment framework’ amounts to a constitutional violation. But it’s not just a timing issue. There is a larger disconnect from the emotional reality of being young. Unlike in 1948, when the TLP idea was first mooted, today policymakers endlessly proclaim that they want creative thinkers. But they are still designing systems that run on obedience, rather than enthusiasm. It counts for nothing if a student is enchanted by Japanese or aiming to become an engineer in Germany by learning German.
PC: NewsBytes
- Now the student must ditch all this romance, fast, and figure out which Indian language to learn from scratch, to keep their mother tongue company. Because the new mandate is of 2 Indian languages plus 1 foreign language. This originates from continuing to treat English as a foreign language. This is a deep misreading of modern India, where English is not some colonial sahib overstaying welcome. The way it’s woven into the country’s economy, higher education, law, technology, pop culture, and everyday aspiration, with its many local idioms and accents, it’s indivisible from this land. A centralized model is a poor, even counterproductive, fit across different states. The education ministry should edit its policy, not children’s dreams.
