January 10 is celebrated as Hindi Day in memory of the inaugural World Hindi Conference that took place in Nagpur on January 10, 1975. As the country celebrates this beautiful language that connects millions across the globe, it is a time to introspect whether children in Goa are getting the right exposure to the language, right from their school days. In Goa, Hindi is hardly written except for educational projects, it becomes difficult to teach the child without the parents learning the language first. Schools affiliated with the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) introduce Hindi as a language for students of Class 5.
Hindi is a compulsory subject and the students who were affected by the lockdown online classes are yet to complete their class 10. Lucia D’Cruz is mother to a Class 4 student, who was in KG-II when the lockdown was announced. He only returned to the physical classroom as a Class 2 student at an ICSE board school , where he missed his basics in Hindi. “Right now, he is good in conversational Hindi but when it comes to writing and understanding the words, he finds it difficult. He gets confused between adjective, nouns, and pronouns,” says Lucia.
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Anjana Kharbe, a Hindi teacher at Holy Cross High School, Siolim shares the difference she has noticed among the students who learnt their Hindi basics during the online classes. While conversing in Hindi has not been a problem, it is when it comes to their writing skills that the students are struggling. “Their writing skills has gone down drastically as they don’t know to write basic Hindi. They find it very difficult to be creative in essay writing, letter writing and comprehension. English speaking children, especially outsiders who don’t speak Konkani at home find it difficult. Those who are very good in Konkani or Marathi, they are the toppers in Hindi and find the language very easy in Class 5 and 6,” says Anjana.
The advantage of
Devanagari script
Raju Kundaikar is a father of a young son who is studying in Class 6 in a Panjim-based school. “He’s quite comfortable in Hindi.
He got his base right from the beginning
and he was studying in Marathi medium from Class 1 to 4, where he already had the Devanagari base. He studies on his own and my wife teaches him at home. He goes to
play cricket and as there many non-Goans who come to play, they talk a lot in Hindi.
TV is also one of the mediums where most of the programmes are in Hindi.
He is quite fluent in Marathi as he used
to take part in competitions in
Marathi which is an advantage for
him when it comes to learning
another language.”
Similarly, Pragati Shailesh Naik informs that her son, Shubhay, who was recently awarded by Rashtra Bhasha Vikas Parishad, Pune for his proficiency in Hindi, has done well because of his strong base in Marathi and Konkani and the continuous efforts of his teachers. “They are given practice sessions on completing assignments on different trending topics as well as exploring beyond their syllabus. They have revisions throughout the term besides their studies,” says Pragati.
Advice for parents
Dr Asha Gawas Gahlot, head of the department of Hindi and vice-principal at Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Khandola, advises parents on how to improve the proficiency of their children in Hindi. “It is crucial for parents to monitor the content their children consume, including what they watch, learn, listen to, and how they use the Hindi language. Social media and cinema are effective tools for learning Hindi; however, one has to take care of the fact that cinema promotes the use of standard and learned Hindi,” says Dr Asha.
She further adds, “As children tend to imitate what they see and hear, exposure to standard Hindi will enhance their ability to communicate fluently and formally, fostering a deeper appreciation and proficiency in the language. Furthermore, they will learn to use Hindi jargons, idioms and phrases well to communicate their thoughts and opinions with others.”
The challenge of
conversational Hindi
Aldona-based Vienna Serrao’s daughter is in Class 5 and is getting familiar with the basics of the language, Barakhadi. “She is doing well if she puts in more efforts. She is coping with the language on her own without going for tuitions and I help her out, if anything is required. YouTube videos are much better as the language has different words and is grammatically correct compared to what I speak. It’s more of listening skills also that helps them to memorize. We mostly don’t speak Hindi, it is either English or Konkani. My daughter studied Konkani from Class 1 and is finding the written language familiar. We are struggling because even we are not perfect in Hindi,” says Vienna.
