New Delhi/Bengaluru: Education in English instead of mother tongue is killing the creative instincts and emotional aspects among children, opined noted Kannada litterateur S L Byrappa.
Inaugurating a literary fest in the national capital, writer Byrappa stressed on education at primary level in mother tongue. Children must be encouraged to learn and understand stories, poems and simple prose in regional languages during early school life, said Byrappa.
Till 1970, 90% of the schools were adopting regional languages/ mother tongue in education. However the urban parents craze to make their children Doctors and Engineers changed the entire scenario over the last 4 decades, stated noted writer.
The literary fest this year is focusing on ‘Mother tongue and safeguarding folk culture’.
When children are forced to learn languages they do not understand, their thinking ability and emotional criteria decimates and many academicians and experts have expressed similar sentiments, he added. However, parents fail to realise, rued S L Byrappa.
Indian languages are culturally rich and every word used has relevance in daily life and our English writers have failed miserably outside because their writings ‘lack spirit’ which they cannot get without associating with the culture of a particular land, right from the roots, S L Byrapapa contended.
If the English language dominance continues in similar fashion, writers and readers in regional languages will perish, warned Byrappa.
The efforts to translate good regional literary content into English, too is not on expected lines, S L Byrappa regretted.
Though English is widely used in science, technology and administrative sectors, but as a language, it is a culturally inert, concluded SL Byrappa.
