Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Toolkit Toolkit Final as of 17082016 | Page 20

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
• 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
are 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 oral examination at the
PSLE 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.
Intra-school level
initiatives
• Almost in every school that
offers a variety of Mother
Tongue languages, at least a
week is reserved in the year
as Mother Tongue Language
(MTL) Week.
• Non-academic activities that
are fun and applicable in real-
life are conducted for
students to deepen their love
for the language.
• These
activities
include
opportunities to be a radio
deejay for a day, talks by
prominent writers, learning
journey to cultural enclaves
and food-fairs
• Some schools organise intra-
school Tamil competitions for
students to showcase their
talents and other smaller
initiatives to spark students’
interests in Tamil
National initiatives
• The
month-long
Tamil
Language Festival (TLF) is
held in April annually.
• Debate competitions for
secondary school and
junior college students,
among other activities
like kolam drawing and
special
lectures
by
invited foreign guest
speakers, are held at
nation-wide locations.
• Recently, almost 50% of
TLF events are catered
to youths and students.
• National Library Board does
initiatives to inculcate a habit
of reading amongst students
as well. Some of these
initiatives include activities
and special books released as
part of Read! Singapore.
Expert Opinion
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 who came native Tamil
families.
As such, students struggle with using the language over time, gradually losing in the
language.
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