The big question is do we need to reserve seats for Tamil medium students in Tamil Nadu ?? Is it to encourage people to study in Tamil medium so that the existing Tamil medium schools dont close down ?? Or is it to provide hope to the Tamil medium students who havent learnt much of Hindi or English , who are hoping that government does something for them to find employment within the state ?? Infact , the truth is that , the government has to preserve the language, but how ??,the answer is... by showing them employment opportunities within the state government . Government decision seems to make common sense here. Because, in today's scenario , the masses dont want to learn a language unless its forced upon them or makes good "business" sense for them. The Government seems to appeal to the "business" sense of the masses who want a good stable job within their comfort zone. All this seems fine to me in the short term to appease people and improve the feelgood factor.
Looking from the point of Mobility within our country, which is of great importance as on today and for the future, it does leave us with two social classes. One class of people who are English educated , who find it easy to go to Bangalore/Delhi/Mumbai /Hyderabad to find jobs. Another class of people who will not travel out of their state due to their inherent language problems. I come from Kerala , a state where there are more trade unions than the people themselves. Due to the English education system , I could possibly go and find jobs in other parts of India, although trade unions had successfully managed to scare away Private sector companies.
So my point is that , the move seems good for Tamil, good for the people who cannot move out of the state due to Language problems , good for the vote bank because the same people would vote for DMK, but not so good for the mobility of the future generations who hope for a government job just because they studied in a Tamil medium school and have a degree to show to the masses.
A nice article. Keep writing ! I will give my take on this issue.
ReplyDeleteKerala has been pushing English education and literacy for all for quite sometime now. The people who find jobs in the middle east and move all across India is basically because they are adept in languages English and Hindi. But if you see mallu people they more than anyone else yearn to be back in Kerala. They buy, collect and read more malayalam literature than most others. It has to come with some basic mentality. Don't ask me what this nature is ! Our neighbors have to look into this as well. Crippling people with a single language will not popularize language. I guess in the long run it will cause more damage than good.
Infact i started reading Vaikom muhammad basheers short stories more than ever before....
ReplyDeleteGud work ! Continue Publishing !
ReplyDeleteActually I think I have a middle-path. How about bringing a standard for Indian Language courses? Like German of French courses with A1-C2 levels etc. Each State Government sets up a committee to design the course. Then, everyone who wants to get a government job has to show some high level language certificate like level C1 or something. Same with studies : students have to pass B2 or something to get a Degree Certificate. Also, for new immigrants who enter private company jobs, they must pass a certain level like B1 or something within 2 years to keep their employment. Students or applicants who have completed their schooling in their native tongue automatically get C2 certificate.
ReplyDeleteBut this is only going to keep our languages alive, not developing. What develops a language is quality literature. For this, Governments just have to dedicate some big money to support the regional languages. Setting up state versions of Jnanapeetha and putting a big money on the prize is one step. Also, encouraging schoolchildren to write in their native tongue is another. An excellent example is 'Balakalotsavam' like activities. Here, more importance may be given to native cultural activities and literary activities in the native tongue. In addition, like 'Sports Quota' in Govt services, a 'Literature Quota' can be introduced, giving a few jobs to those who have shown themselves to be promising or established littérateurs. In addition to all these, subsidies can be given to publishers who publish entirely in the regional language. Actually an example in this direction is : 'Kannada Sahitya Parishad'. They have huge subsidies from the Govt and publish some amazing works and sell the books for as little as Rs.10/- to the general public and free of cost to school libraries. This, I know is a good step because I could read hundreds of classical works in Kannada thanks to them.
Anyway, there are a plenty of options if Govts will implement them. And I am sure it is not because of lack of ideas that we are in this situation. It is simply because, people like Tamil Nadu CM will not do anything that they can't publicize. Setting up Balakalotsavam will hardly get him 10 votes while thundering about Tamil Reservations in a press conference would win hundreds. The story is the same all states.
@Mahesh: The levels of language knowledge is a fantastic suggestion . This from the point of mobility of the people from other states is fantastic.
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