[Reader-list] Primary teachers vouch for easier English

[Chintan Girish Modi]

*From
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Primary-teachers-vouch-for-easier-English/articleshow/7393728.cms

Primary teachers vouch for easier English*

By Sruthy Susan Ullas, TNN, Jan 31, 2011, 12.18am IST

BANGALORE: Sixty four years since the British left the country and at a time
when English <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=English> has
almost become the mother tongue of
GenY<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=GenY>in urban
India <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/India>, the Karnataka
Primary Teacher's Association (KPTA) has a problem with the standard of
English in textbooks, which it feels is very high for children to
understand.

KPTA <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search?q=KPTA> has requested
the primary and secondary education minister to lower the language standard
and tone it down for students of primary classes to easily understand
subjects. "Children coming to government schools directly join class 1. They
usually have no one to tutor them at home. The sentences in English texts
are usually long with high-sounding words, which the kids find difficult to
learn," said Narayan Swamy, secretary, KPTA.

INDIAN FLAVOUR

G S Mudambadithaya, coordinator of the textbook preparation committee, said
that during a review it was found that the standard of language was a little
high for the age of the students. "Besides, the content was also difficult
for children to understand. They did not have an Indian background, which
made the cultural setting alien to the children, besides the language
itself. This becomes difficult for children as they cannot relate to the
content," he said, adding, "Moreover, there are very few teachers who have
the potential to teach the language. Many teachers, who have studied till
B.Ed in the Kannada medium, are asked to teach spoken English."

Mudambadithaya added that the committee, which is preparing textbooks for
the academic year 2012-13, intends to give lessons an Indian flavour. There
will be a variety of lessons with both Indian and foreign backgrounds.

English still remains a subject that gives nightmares to many students of
the state board. In the 2010 SSLC exams, 21.62% students failed to clear the
English paper. Mathematics scores highest in the number of failed candidates
with 26.21%, while the figures for science and social science stand at
22.10% and 18.86% respectively.

It has also been observed that the cases of malpractices are high during the
English exam. In April 2010, around 25 students were caught indulging in
malpractices during the English examination, while 60 were caught in 2009
and 35 in 2008.