Somehow a stereo-type is emerging in the way the BJP
Government under Modiji is dealing with its language policy. Soon after winning
the elections in 2014 Hindi was proposed as the language of the social media
and the Government went ahead with posting its circulars in Hindi in the social
media. As if not to have learned why such a move is unpopular with the
non-Hindi States – and not just with the non-BJP parties, the same policy was
sought to be promoted again now after winning the elections the second time.
The Home Minister stirred a hornet’s nest and went back but not without
dropping hints that he and his government would not lose another chance to come
up with the same policy viz-a-viz Hindi.
This is causing me a lot of concern, not just as a
BJP and Modi supporter (why my government is doing this?), but as a parent who
had a monumental task of helping her two children get the best education and
successfully they did without speaking a single word in Hindi! They went up to
the maximum studies available in their respective fields and now I am a satisfied
parent for where they reached, but Hindi had no place at all in their growth
and success. This must give the reader the first awareness that language is a
different domain and education well planned in a language that gets them access
to what makes them satisfied intellectually and financially must be provided to
them. I managed it for my kids, and the Government is expected to come to the
aid of all the parents of this country to get what the
parents and their wards want, and not what the Government wants them to
have.
The language of education and learning a language
belong to the domain of education and cannot be meddled with for political and
even national reasons. In fact a well educated person is a national asset and
as such the medium in which he or she is educated cannot be dictated by the
government but decided by the parents and their wards. Government is only a
facilitator.
Basically there are issues with the way most of us (including
the honourable Home Minister) think about education. It is easy to say – study this
language or that language. Only a parent, that too, a middle class parent who
knows the value of education and invests his / her life and money in educating
the wards, is aware of the limitations in the learning capabilities of
children. First let us accept the fact that not all kids are good at learning
languages. Even if one has no first-hand experience in understanding it, let
one is not out of sync with the latest research findings on language learning.
A research
by Florida Atlantic University “challenges the belief, held in and out of
scientific circles that children are linguistic sponges who quickly absorb the
language or languages they hear and become proficient speakers of both
languages.” This issue is alive in multi-cultural societies such as the USA
and Canada where the mother tongue is something other than English and the kids
have to adapt to speaking English outside their home circles. While this
inevitable bilingualism is being frowned upon as a stress by those societies, in
India where every child can have access to study in the language of its native
tongue, three language formula is being forced, of which Hindi is being pushed
with Government patronage.
Researchers further state that only that language that
continues to be heard by the children in their surroundings will be learned
well and such language is a ‘majority language’. Any language that is not
widely spoken around the kids is a ‘minority language’ – and it will soon be
forgotten. “Research demonstrates that we need to reshape our views of early
bilingualism: children are born ready to learn the language or languages of
their environments without confusion or delay (Werker &
Byers-Heinlein, 2008). To promote successful bilingual development, parents
raising bilingual children should ensure that their children have ample
opportunities to hear and speak both of their languages. As children get older,
interacting with monolingual speakers (especially other children) is important
for motivating ongoing language use, especially for minority languages not
widely spoken in the community (Pearson, 2008).”
By this study it is known that if all the Indians
must become proficient in Hindi as the Home Minister wants, there must be a
Hindi speaking environment everywhere in India and not vice versa. In other
words, only when one keeps hearing Hindi all around, can one become reasonably
proficient in conversational Hindi. This can be best fulfilled by Hindi movies
and Hindi tele serials but not through curriculum at school. What a ‘Kolaveri di’ song did to the
whole of India must be done by Hindi songs and dance sequences on a regular basis.
But should we need all this?
What is implied here is that the Home Minister and any
policy maker in future in favour of Hindi must know that such an attempt is unscientific
and bound to be a failure. In return they would only get their political opponents
muster strength which would further require them to press the Governor of the
State into service to diffuse the opponents!
So it is essential to know some basics on
limitations in language learning. Not many children are good at learning
languages. Exposure to bilingualism or tri-lingualism at school does not ensure
understanding the language at all times in later life. Tiny tots listen to what
is spoken around them and pick up immediately – a faculty aided by Broca's area in
the brain. But as they grow old, limitations do occur says a Study.
That means learning a language a little later is also a difficult task for a
child. Though it is possible for some people to learn many languages even at
later times due to the level of activity of their Broca’s area, not all can
accomplish it.
This fact can checked with any parent of school
going children. In fact the students who excel in science and Maths do badly in
language studies. For them the language skills necessary for their interest in
science and Maths are enough. They know very well that language is for
communication and expression. Many students excel in conversation than in
reading and writing a language. Only a parent or a teacher knows how language
study is a drudgery for many a student.
So my request to the Home Minister and the BJP party
in general is to think of other ways to integrate the nation. The need for a
link language is of course there and already
guaranteed that English would continue as long as the States prefer so.
· There
is no use telling that English is a foreign language,
for Hindi is also a foreign language for many in India. In this age of global
collaborations and English speaking countries in the favourite list of many as
destinations for education and job opportunities, discouraging English study is anti-people.
· There
is no use in branding English as a colonial hang-over,
for Hindi is also a
hang-over of the Muslim Era. Needless to say that Hindi has more ‘foreign’
elements from Islamic influence in comparison to many South Indian languages
that have no foreign component. The presence of Hindi in most north Indian
States can also attributed to Islamic rule of those States compared to least or
nil influence of Islamic rule in Southern States.
Even when non-natives ruled southern States, they
did not impose their languages. The Nayaks and Vijayanagara kings and Pallavas
far back in time didn’t impose their languages among Tamils. In fact Grantha script is proof of ruling Pallavas’ attempt to
speak Tamil the way native speakers spoke. Therefore to say that a single language
– despite that being foreign to a people - can integrate the nation is
untenable.
To say that a particular language which is foreign
to 60% of the people of India, must be learned by all for national integration and
to get a global identity,
shows that there is much to be learnt by the powers-that-be in many spheres.
· National integration
happens by the identity as an Indian and not by what we speak. Even the National
Anthem is not in Hindi but reflects the idea of people from different parts of
India aroused by the single name ‘Bharat’. The
idea of Bharat integrates, and not the language.
· The
next most important integrator is the culture of
this country and that culture has a language which is not Hindi, but Sanskrit. This culture
eulogises the heroes of this land namely, Rama, Krishna, Skanda et al and
deities such as Durga whose etymological meanings can be traced to Sanskrit
only. Even an old language such as Tamil has 30% words that are Sanskrit. Sanskrit
which is the basis of worship is still in vogue in olden temples of Tamilnadu that
account for nearly 90% of olden temples in the country. Knowledge of Sanskrit can very well help the
people to understand what they chant and that could further help in strengthening
the cultural roots of the country.
One must remember that Tamils had come out of the
Dravida-Maya at least as far as temple worship is concerned. I myself was a
witness to the worship of the DMK first family in the temple of Budha
(TiruveNkadu) many years ago where they conducted the Puja in Sanskrit. It is
high time venues to learn Sanskrit are introduced across the country. National
integration is a definite outcome and Sanskrit would get a global identity as
the language of Bharat.
· And
don’t skip this blog wherein I have given at the end, the report on ‘Apa-Brahmasa’ being the root language of almost all
the languages of India. Cartoon
controversy on Hindi agitation in Tamilnadu and what people must know. This
is to show that a lot more is needed to researched in the language unity of
Indian past. Importance to Hindi which is of recent origin is bound to eclipse
and erase some important facts and features about a unitary language of a
distant past.
