Issue 7 : Developing Interest in Tamil Amongst Students
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Issue 7 : Developing Interest in Tamil Amongst Students
Author : Ms . Azeena Badarudeen
Current measures in place to promote interest in Tamil among ( secondary school ) students
Co-Curricular Activities ( CCA ) |
Curriculum |
Intra-school level initiatives |
|
National initiatives |
• Indian Cultural Societies in some schools promote Indian performing arts like bharathanaatyam .
• The Singapore Youth Festival ( SYF ) holds a display of the various performing arts including Indian dance once every 2 years . This encourages youths to be in touch with their culture , through appreciating dance and music .
• The Indian Cultural Societies of certain IP schools such as Raffles Institution ( RI ) and Anglo Chinese
School ( Independent ) hold annual All-Arts Competitions for other schools to encourage students to display their talents and appreciation for the Tamil language and culture through performing literary arts .
• The Tamil syllabus and curriculum undergoes review once every five to six years and feedback is gathered on the content and observations made on selected teachers as to how they carry out the lessons .
• The newest teaching and learning resources include stories of pioneers from the Tamil community in Singapore as well as chapters on Tamil history and culture .
• The PSLE oral examination will now carry a heavier weightage .
• Moreover , at all the national examinations at the secondary school level , namely the GCE ‘ O ’, N ( A ) and N ( T ) levels , the oral examination will take on an e- format , reflecting relevance and a move to keep up with changing times .
Expert Opinion
• Almost in every school that • The month-long Tamil offers a variety of Mother Language Festival ( TLF ) is Tongue languages , at least a held in April annually . week is reserved in the year • Debate competitions for as Mother Tongue Language secondary school and ( MTL ) Week . junior college students ,
• Non-academic activities that among other activities
are fun and applicable in reallife are conducted for special lectures by
like kolam drawing and
students to deepen their love invited foreign guest for the language . speakers , are held at
• These activities include nation-wide locations .
opportunities to be a radio • Recently , almost 50 % of deejay for a day , talks by TLF events are catered prominent writers , learning to youths and students . journey to cultural enclaves • National Library Board does and food-fairs . initiatives to inculcate a habit
• Some schools organise intraschool Tamil competitions for as well . Some of these
of reading amongst students
students to showcase their initiatives include activities talents and other smaller and special books released as initiatives to spark students ’ part of Read ! Singapore . interests in Tamil .
It is clear that a lot of effort has been put in to boost students ’ interest in the Tamil language at various levels . Why then do interest levels remain low , in particular among secondary school students ?
• According to a phone interview that was conducted with Mr Venugopal , a curriculum specialist with the Ministry of Education ( MOE ), a decline in interest in the Tamil language is most pronounced after primary school , when students make the transition to secondary school .
• With a heavier workload , students with the backing of their parents are likely to prioritise some subjects over the others . Tamil often gets side-lined given its low potential economic value .
• As such , an increasing number of students over time , view Tamil as nothing more than one of the many subjects they are taught on a school day .
• The other reason for this decline in interest in the Tamil language also stems from the fact that Tamil is not the lingua franca of many students .
• As such , students struggle with using the language over time , gradually losing the language .