Kannada Medium Vs. English Medium

Education is the basis of every human’s life. Education enhances and grows one’s personality in a beautiful manner. To be educated is to be civilised. At the national level, we see that English medium schools are the most popular, on the contrary the situation at the state level is different. In the state of Karnataka especially, people are more inclined towards schools with Kannada medium.

Lately, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy’s took a decision to start English-medium sections in 1,000 government schools. This decision has seen a lot of protest from the critics who stated that introduction of English shall reduce the impact of Kannada as the State language. Mr. Kumaraswamy stated that only those parents who are highly keen of sending their children to private schools that teach in English, as far as the poorer sections of the society are concerned, they are just being robbed of the choice. Some of the supporters also believe that a child learns best when taught in his mother tongue.

They stated that the issue is not only confined to Kannada language only. The issue is about effective education and if that means studying in a Kannada medium school, then why not? Also many parents are of the view that since they themselves had a bad experience of studying in a English medium school, so will their children, hence they are more inclined towards sending their ward to a Kannada medium school. Another struggle for the parents is to answer the society appropriately when they questioned for choosing a Kannada medium school over an English medium one. Parents shared their experiences and stated that usually the society sees us with disbelief and suspicion.

They presume that our child is suffering with some kind of disability or we are suffering with shortage of funds, as a result of which we are sending them to Kannada medium school and not an English medium school. In the present day, all Kannada-medium schools teach English as a subject from Class 1 onwards which has indeed helped the children in learning the language to a great extent. On the other hand, if the Utilitarian view is observed and analysed, it is understood that that the followers are of the belief that the English medium schools is just a platform for preparing the children for career and job. The reality is that it robs the child of his/ her individuality. Despite the increasing craze for the English medium schools, majority of people still believe that Kannada is only a natural consequence of effective education for the child.

By: Anuja Arora

Content:https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/bucking-the-trend-some-urban-parents-choose-kannada-medium/article26226936.ece