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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Learn at least two languages
Why children remain out of school
Campus NoteS
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Learn at least two languages Language
is the vehicle of the only real wealth—knowledge. It is also intimately related to cultural identity, national integration and development. While vernacular languages are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether, English has emerged as the language of globalisation. The word community is concerned, and the General Assembly of the UN has proclaimed 2008 to be the international year of languages and named UNESCO as the lead agency. Developing multilingualism has strategic importance for the people and the planet. The word is beautiful because it is so diverse. “When languages fade, so does the word’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression—valuable resources for ensuring a better future are also lost,” says UNESCO which has undertaken extensive research into the status of languages worldwide. In bilingual or multilingual settings, the phenomenon of acculturation applies when the use of a dominant majority language is associated with social, cultural, political or economical advantages. In this case, parents of children in a “weaker culture may encourage their children (and themselves) to use the languages of the stronger culture rather than their own language”. Punjabi people, who are considered to be very sentimental about their language, are now a part of this trend. They hesitate to put their name plates in Punjabi, their wedding and other invitation cards are in English, they are happy to receive the telephone and other bills in English and they are glad to put and read billboards and advertisements in English. They are doing this themselves and blaming others for neglecting their mother tongue. The same is not certainly the case in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Remember, there are two languages—one the language of the heart and another of the mind. There are two languages—the language of heart is your mother tongue, while the language of mind is the language you choose to communicate with. To learn both languages is true multilingualism. In March 2008, I attended the Oxford Round Table at Oxford on proficiency in language. It was an opportunity to interact with select band of scholars from all over the world. “How you prepare international students for graduate study,” I asked a Professor of the University of Alabama, USA. The answer was prompt: “We identify the needs of international students. We inculcate students with listing skills for lectures, speaking skills for seminars and editorial support with writing. We have a separate language programme for the students of doctoral education.” The language of training and education is altogether different, may it be English. Many delegates were of the opinion that proficiency in one language makes the acquisition of another language easier. India is a country of many languages—about 1,652 languages spoken by less than 10,000 speakers and 105 languages spoken by more than 10,000 speakers. Out of these, 46 languages are only spoken languages and 21 languages are schedule languages. India needs a cohesive, comprehensive and transparent policy to protect and develop these national languages. It is a high time to discard the outdated three languages, two-language formulas. Let us learn from the other countries how they enrich, protect and develop their language treatise. The policy guidelines of UNESO may also he helpful. Unity in diversity is much more beautiful than the one language, one nation dogma. Let us celebrate international year of languages 2008 by learning one language of the other State. The
writer is Dean Faculty of Language, Punjabi University, Patiala
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Why children remain out of school LACK of interest, household work, migration, earning compulsions, socio-cultural reasons and failure to pass the annual examinations are the reasons cited by the Haryana Education Department for a large number of eligible children remaining out of school. Hence the main objective of the programme is to bring all children to school, alternate school and back of school camp by 2005 and increasing the coverage of special focus groups (girls and scheduled caste/scheduled tribe children) were not achieved in Haryana, as 2. 88 lakh (6 per cent) children were still out of school while the number of out of schoolgirls, both in the general and SC categories, was higher as compared to boys. In spite of huge investments in the training of teachers and teaching learning equipment, the quality of education has not improved, as evident from pass percentage in the board examination. The monitoring of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan programme by the General Council and Executive Committee was also ineffective. The results of the Social and Rural Research Institute (SRI) survey pointed out that 31.5 per cent of villagers and 20 per cent of urban blocks were not covered under the SSA. The survey also brought out that about 34 out of every 1,000 children were out of school in the state. Of these, 35 per 1,000 in rural areas and 32 per 1,000 in urban areas were out of school. Among these, 37 per 1,000 were girls and 32 per 1,000 were boys. The survey also highlighted the fact that SCs and STs have the highest proportion of out of schoolchildren among all social groups. The ratio of out of SC schoolchildren was 69 per 1,000 and for the ST it was 196 per 1,000 against 13 per 1,000 of the general category. The main reason reported by parents for not enrolling their children in schools was that the child had to look after household chores. Apart from regular schools, back to school camps were required to be organised to bring back those children who had dropped out. The survey brought out that about 2.6 per cent of primary schools, 2 per cent of upper primary schools and 4.4 per cent of high schools reported that the school camps were organised by them. The analysis by disability shows that across disabilities, the estimated proportion of out-of-schoolchildren (734 per thousand) was markedly much higher than the proportion of all children aged 6-14 who were out of school (34 per thousand). Children with mental disability and speech disabled were the worst sufferers as 100 per cent children were out of school followed by visual disabled (594 per thousand). The survey revealed that at an aggregate, 48 per cent of the children currently out of school don’t want to go to school again. A grant of Rs 25. 31 lakh for the purchase of teaching learning equipment was utilised on the purchase of dustbins in violation of the codal provisions. The SSA Parishad revealed that the state government upgraded 364 branch primary schools to full-fledged primary schools and created 728 additional posts of teachers. However, no fresh recruitment was made under the SSA. The additional posts created as a result of the upgradation of schools under the programme were filled up by surplus teachers who were already available with the state government. The DPC, Faridabad, purchased material worth Rs 1.46 crore without the approval of competent authority. The science kits worth Rs 1.29 crore were not received till July 2005, though the payment was made in advance to the NCERT in March 2004. Physics kits worth Rs 81.86 lakh were purchased without assessing any requirement from schools, while Rs 23. 50 lakh were spent in excess of norms on the construction of 20 BPC buildings. As regards quality of education, the results from Class I to VII were fairly good but the pass percentage of Class VIII, where the examination were held by the State School Education Board was very low and had dipped to zero per cent in two schools. The poor results of board examination leaves much to be desired. Electricity is an important facility for improving quality of education. The results of SRI survey, however, revealed that only 42.8 per cent primary schools, 69.4 per cent upper primary schools and 87.6 per cent of high schools had electricity facility. The scrutiny of the records of five districts revealed that 2,882 textbooks for the session 2003-04 and 20,532 textbooks for the session 2004-05 were lying in stock with Sub-Divisional Educational Officers, Block Education Officers and with the headmasters of schools who attributed the reasons as excess supply of textbooks and change of syllabus of Classes VI and VIII for the session 2004-05. Thus, textbooks were printed without assessing the actual requirements. To provide computer education to the students of upper primary classes, computers along with their accessories provided to nine schools in each district each year during 2002-05. However, the proper arrangements for safety were not made before installation. As a result, 21 computers worth Rs 8.13 lakh have since been stolen from different schools of three districts.
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Campus NoteS The University Grants Commission has sanctioned a research project worth Rs 6.32 lakh to Karamjit Singh Chahal, principal investigator, and Rawal Singh Aulakh, co-investigator, of the Department of Architecture of the university on “Sikh Architecture: The Perception of Space in Architecture and Philosophy”. Chahal said the three-year (2008-11) project would analyse in detail the various architectural elements and features, planning principles of Sikh architecture. He said the study was concerned with a critical examination of the record of architectural development from the earliest times to the present. It provides for the unexplored knowledge and methods for promoting critical inquiry into the history and theory of Sikh architecture and producing informed insights into the varied factors and influences that have shaped design decisions over time, he added.
Refresher course in English from May 15
The university would conduct a three-week refresher course in English from May 15 to June 4 under the aegis of its Academic Staff College. Stating this, Dr H S Bhatia, Director, Academic Staff College, said the interested university and college teachers may apply immediately for the course on prescribed form available from the office of the college. The form can also be download from the university website www.gndu.ac.in along with a bank draft for Rs 500, drawn in the favour of the Registrar, Guru Nanak Dev University, payable at Amritsar on the account of registration fee (non-refundable), he added.
Warm farewell extended
The Department of Press and Publication of the university bade a warm farewell to Jagjit Singh Walia, Director, Press and Publication, on the eve of his superannuation. Balkar Singh, president, Officers Association; Suwinderjit Singh, president, Non-teaching Employees Association, besides other senior officers of the university were present on the occasion. Walia, who was termed as ‘man of revolution’ in the printing in the university by two presidents of the association, thanked the university fraternity and staff of the department for their cooperation. — Contributed by P. K. Jaiswar
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