Date:18/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/18/stories/2006081806680400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Teach English from first standard'

Staff Reporter

K.S. Nisar Ahmed

BANGALORE: K.S. Nisar Ahmed, president-designate of the 73rd all-India Kannada Sahitya Sammelan to be held in Shimoga, has said the Government should evolve a formula to introduce English as a language right from the first standard.

Participating in a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club of Bangalore here on Thursday, Prof. Ahmed said he was in favour of teaching English as a language in primary school. But there should be no compromise on Kannada being the medium of instruction. There was also a need to create a "Kannada ambience" in English-medium schools and ensure that Kannada was taught in such schools, he said.

The Government had a responsibility to formulate a clear-cut language policy to find a solution to the problem of medium of instruction and related issues, he suggested.

There was a need to impart education of high quality that would infuse confidence among rural students in competing with their urban counterparts in areas such as information technology and biotechnology.

On the issue of convincing the Centre about conferring classical language status on Kannada, the popular poet was of the view that politicians from the State had failed to convince the Centre on the matter. This was so despite strong evidence available in the annals of history and in literature in their favour.

Among Dravidian languages, Kannada and Tamil had linguistic similarities and parallels. They had been projected as sister languages by many linguists. The Centre should accord classical status to Kannada also as it had given that status to Tamil. MPs from the State should prevail upon the Centre to give classical status to Kannada, he said.