Report from AP :
Controversy over the Medium of Instruction
Recently the government of AP headed by
YSRCP leader Jaganmohan Reddy has decided to
introduce English as the medium of instruction in all
the government schools. The previous government
of TDP introduced English as medium of instruction
along with Telugu.
The decision raked up a controversy that revolved
around gaining the political upper hand, counter
posing one section of people with another section
and lastly sentimental arguments about the mother
tongue. In the process, the scientific approach that
has to be adopted for the learning process by our
children became a casualty.
For centuries, the West has been colonizing,
usurping, literally terrorizing the entire planet.
Hundreds of millions have died as a result of colonialism,
neocolonialism and imperialism and the plunder is
still going on. Wealth, cultural and educational
institutions, hospitals, transportation, parks – all that
Europe and North America possess to date and boast
about – was constructed upon mountains of bones,
on genocide and unbridled plunder.
As Andre Vitchek observed, slavery, mass
murder, genocidal expansions; the West robbed the
world, and then consolidated its power, promoting
its exceptionalism through relentless brain washing
(called education), propaganda (called information)
and twisted entertainment for masses that inhabit
poor countries (called culture and arts).
The mannerism among the upper classes in
south Asian subcontinent are those of UK (and lately,
of US). Elites here go out of their way to be more
British than Brits; more Californian than the inhabitant
of the US west coast. Private countless private Indian
universities (of late, public universities) call
themselves as “American” or “British” with ‘Oxford’
or ‘Cambridge’ frequently decorating their names.
‘To be accepted’ in Europe or US is the highest
honour in all the former colonies. ‘Well groomed’,
well educated and modern Asians, Latin Americans
and Africans are expected to ape westerners; to
dress like them, eat like them and to defend the
“same values” as them. But expected by whom? Not
surprisingly their own people. Such is the cultural
impact of colonialism and imperialism on the people
of Asia, Africa and Latin America which have not
broken all the colonial ties completely through a
genuine democratic and national revolution.
The countries that had changed their social
systems thoroughly have advanced in many ways.
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In this context, their national languages flourished
to provide education from primary to higher level of
education, including the adoption of latest
technologies like computers. At the same time
learning foreign language to expand the knowledge
also grew in these countries. One can witness with
full appreciation this development in China, Vietnam,
Mangolia, Korea, Cuba, and so one.
One can see the passion for everything ‘English’
in India in this background. Even after seven decades
of so-called independence and recognising 13
languages as national languages, every affair of the
state is run through the medium of English. The
legislature, the executive and the judiciary uses only
English and when a difference arises, they refer to
an English dictionary compiled in London. The
Constitution of India, often boasted as the wisdom
of democracy, has not been translated into national
languages except Hindi that took 50 years. A citizen
of India need to be a pundit in English to know what
was written in the constitution by which he had to
conduct all his public affairs. Every law passed by
the Parliament and score and half state Assemblies
has to be written in English and if get translated into
vernacular languages what we get is sanscritised
versions. These versions are as foreign and as
difficult as of English for 95 per cent of Indians. Thus
English is virtually the official language of India and
there was a wrong perception that the Indian
languages are so backward that they are unfit for
adoption in the present fast changing society. There
is also another misperception that the down trodden
people, particularly those suffered under the
despicable caste system, could only progress with
English education that came with the colonial rule.
As the Indian big bourgeoisie betrayed the
people of India and compromised with the colonial
masters, the social and economic system has been
continuing in the country and it became a impediment
to the democratic development of all aspects of lives
of the people. The big bourgeoisie of India is the front
runner in placating the exceptionalism of imperialism
as use it as a tool to perpetuate the existing society.
Thus in India, the people are made to believe that
their social emancipation and advancement is linked
to English education.
The controversy and heated debates on the
medium of instruction is deflective in nature. Many
of the participants in the debate, mostly the politicians
contd. on page 23
Class Struggle