GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE

GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE

Mauritius has much to learn from Mr. Narendra Modi in the field of education, at least. His stand shows wisdom and pedagogical soundness and those eager to shout “Jai Hind” should rather think of adopting and adapting some of his views to solve some of our problems. Political acumen has guided the Indian PM on a more progressive course, putting a lot of water in his previous RSS wine.
Our national language, Mauritian, the mother tongue of over 90% of the population should be made the medium of instruction together with English, another creole language. Mr. Modi and I share similar views on this issue.
Jai Mauritius!
Dev Virahsawmy
10.06.23

NEP 2020: PM Modi vouches for mother tongue as medium of instruction in schools.

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Amandeep Shukla
Sep 11, 2020, 12:58 PM IST
(abridged/adapted by Dev Virahsawmy)

The prime minister was speaking at ‘Shiksha Parv’, an event organised by the ministry of education, where he spoke extensively on the new National Education Policy (NEP). Strongly vouching for the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction in schools, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that “people trapped in bookish knowledge” often fail to grasp that language is a way to communicate knowledge but not the entire knowledge in itself.
PM Modi said we fail to understand that language is a way to communicate knowledge but not the entire knowledge in itself. … Modi also sought to make it clear that while local languages were being promoted in the new National Education Policy (NEP), there was no bar at all on the teaching of English or any other language that can be helpful on the global stage…
“After the NEP came, there has been much discussion on what will be the language of instruction. Here we must understand one scientific fact that language is the medium of education, not entire education itself. People caught in too much of bookish knowledge often fail to grasp this distinction. Whatever language the child can learn easily in should be the medium of instruction,” he said.
He said it should be seen if the child can grasp what is being said in the class. And if she/he can, how effortlessly that is happening. It should not be that more effort of the child goes into just understanding the language rather than the subject, the prime minister said.
Top ranking countries, like Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Japan, Poland and South Korea in the global assessment, PISA, impart primary education in the mother tongue, he said.
The language which the children hear at home is the language in which they learn the fastest, Modi said. Learning in another language can be quite stressful for children, he added.
The prime minister said that in rural areas, parents cannot even remain connected to their child’s school education when the mother tongue is not the medium of instruction. So, till grade 5, the medium of instruction should be the mother tongue or the local language according to the NEP, he said.

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