The Banaras Hindu University was founded in 1916 by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and nobody can deny his nationalism. He was president of the Indian National Congress and also espoused the cause of Hindu Nationalism. Among the subjects taught at the University was German. In the 1930s, when India was under British occupation and Germany was not in the best of relations with Great Britain, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi taught German at the Banaras Hindu University. He also wrote research papers in German and was fluent in various other languages. Today, he is recognized as one of Goa’s intellectual giants, and rightly so. There is a festival of ideas named after him that the State organizes every year bringing to Goa some of the best minds to speak to Goans. This giant, were he to know that the language he once taught at that temple of learning was threatened at Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country, would, to put it mildly, be appalled. As relief for the students of Kendriya Vodyalayas, the Supreme Court has asked that the decision be implemented next year onwards and not in the middle of the academic year.
While the Union Ministry for Human Resources Development may have effectively made Sanskrit the first choice in Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country, giving rise to a debate on this decision, this decision from the Union government is reminiscent of the Goa government’s education policy.
In July this year, while announcing the medium of instruction policy, the government stated that, all the government recognized primary and secondary schools, except those which have the medium of instruction in Konkani or Marathi, shall teach Konkani or Marathi as one of the compulsory subjects from Standard V to X. Making that as one of the conditions of the policy for release of grants for primary schools in the English language, the government effectively made way for Konkani/Marathi as a compulsory subject in Secondary schools. It did not clarify which subject was to be dropped from the list of subjects taught or whether there would be another subject added to the list. There is still no clarity over the issue.
The National Policy on Education and the National Curriculum Framework 2005 suggests that Sanskrit be studied as a modern Indian language, apart from Hindi and English. Goa follows the three language formula in secondary schools – wherein besides the medium of instruction that is prevalently English, Hindi is taught as a second language and the third language is usually a choice between a foreign language or an Indian language. The options are usually French, Portuguese, Konkani, Marathi. Which language would the compulsory language replace generated a debate at that time, leading to statements from the politicians that Hindi was not to be compulsorily taught in schools.
While nobody is against the promotion of regional languages, and would definitely support every move to promote the mother tongue Konkani, one feels that languages should not be used as divisive weapons in the hands of politicians, they should instead be instruments for inclusion. In today’s political milieu, however, languages are often utilized to divide the people rather than bring them together. Goa has endured some troubled times in the past few decades because of language. It is better not to revisit those moments. It is better instead to look forward at how to encompass the changing nature of the world and transform languages as a binding knot.
Economics and travel today make it necessary for a person to know at least one foreign language. English of course is becoming, if it hasn’t already, the common language across continents, and in India a large percentage of the population does speak it, but knowledge of an additional foreign language will make a big difference to a person’s employment opportunities. Many youth frequent private institutes teaching foreign languages. There is neither a dearth of such institutes nor is there a dearth of students for languages. If the world demands that one know more than one language, why shouldn’t the child learn it in school?
A number of Goan youth have been employed in Chennai and Bangalore solely because of their knowledge of Portuguese. Many of them may have studied Portuguese, but others may have an elementary knowledge of it because they speak it in their homes. Because of their knowledge of Portuguese, they are earning well in these cities, otherwise they would not make the sacrifice of staying away from their families. A foreign language is an asset on the resume of a person. It can offer employment opportunities that are otherwise closed to the person. There is no reason to deny a child the chance to learn a language that could one day give him or her the opportunity to take his career to a different level.
