Umesh,
Thank you for agreeing with me, partways at least.
>Anyway I wonder why English literacy is any indicator of
>Indian's development thru education -
>Indian's development thru education -
Why would you wonder? English literacy is paramount for any state to progress. Yes, they could get by in English - probably even make the IAS (in Hindi), but without English they are severely limited in any number of things - from the sciences to the arts.
English has also been a big factor for India being considered as one of the best places for outsourcing.
Regional or national language jingoism is great for filling the population with pride, but doesn't get much more than that. States that fought to throw English out and opt for their own state language in its stead, now find out that whole generations of their "educated" can't speak and barely write English. Well versed in Hindi may get them jobs in the Hindi belt, maybe Maharastra/Gujarat/Punjab, but in the rest of the country, they are basically square pegs in round holes.
Regional languages MUST be taught. The best is to have students learn both the regional and English alongside each other. That way it will also be easier to help some of the regional languages develop.
Anyway, that my take.
-Ram da
On 9/22/06, umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I agree with you Ram-da whole-heartedly. Anyway I
wonder why English literacy is any indicator of
Indian's development thru education --when the whole
world is merely content with learning their own
language.
Umesh
--- Ram Sarangapani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> C'da,
>
> This is a little worrying. One would have expected
> the big K to be far
> better than the Bimaru states.
>
> >According to the report, Karnataka ranks much below
> even >'Bimaru' states
> like Bihar and Chhattisgarh on the learning >index.
>
> I sincerely want to believe this story, but
> unfortuantely, I also seriously
> doubt anything fruitful comes out of state like
> Bihar. Been to the
> Godforsaken place a couple of times, and I would
> find it difficult to
> believe that stuff like "stats" are not actually
> made up or at the very
> least accurate.
>
> Writing or speaking English is just not there. They
> my know Hindi and
> Bojhpuri very well, but without an iota of English,
> we all know, there would
> be serious limitations.
>
> I am not saying Karnataka doesn't have problems in
> education (or in other
> areas) - but if I were a betting man, I would place
> my bets on the Big K any
> day over Bihar.
>
> --Ram
>
> On 9/22/06, Chan Mahanta < [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> >
> > This in the land of Bangalore?
> >
> > cm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The A,B,C Abyss
> >
> > Karnataka's primary school education has bottomed
> out
> >
> > SUGATA SRINIVASARAJU
> > K For Can't
> > * Karnataka ranks below Bimaru states
> on learning index
> > * Ranks fourth from bottom in reading
> abilities, and is
> > at the bottom in math skills
> > * 52.9% kids in 7-10 age group can't
> read a simple paragraph
> > * The problem is common to
> government/private schools
> > Following the International Literacy Day jamboree
> on September 8, the
> > coalition government here has been taking out huge
> ads trumpeting its
> > achievements in the area of primary and secondary
> education. If the
> > propaganda machine is to be believed, the
> JD(S)-BJP coalition has
> > released Rs 5,103 crore for the education sector.
> >
> > The funding and intentions seem impressive. But
> data thrown up in the
> > latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)
> India for rural
> > Karnataka tells a rather different, grim story. A
> survey covering
> > 15,628 children in 540 villages and 534 schools
> across the state's 27
> > districts found that 52.9 per cent of the children
> in the 7-10 age
> > group can't read even a simple small paragraph
> (Level 1) and 72.5 per
> > cent cannot read a story (Level 2). And 59.7 per
> cent cannot solve
> > numerical sums of subtraction and 90.6 per cent
> cannot do simple
> > division.
> >
> > While the all-India statistics spelled out in the
> ASER India report
> > is itself worrisome, the Karnataka data is
> shocking. The report is a
> > coordinated effort of Pratham Resource Centre with
> hundreds of ngos
> > working in the education sector across the nation.
> In Karnataka, the
> > survey was supported by 18 organisations,
> including the Azim Premji
> > Foundation.
> >
> > According to the report, Karnataka ranks much
> below even 'Bimaru'
> > states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh on the learning
> index. Bihar fares
> > badly when it comes to school infrastructure,
> out-of-school-children
> > percentage and access to learning material, but
> its children manage
> > to top the nation's list when it comes to learning
> abilities. This
> > when out-of-school-children percentage was highest
> in the country at
> > 13.5 per cent, while Karnataka's was just 1.9 per
> cent. Only about
> > 52.4 per cent had access to textbooks in the
> eastern state's primary
> > schools, but in Karnataka nearly 90 per cent had
> access. Yet, when it
> > came to learning skills, Bihar's children came in
> fifth in the
> > country for reading skills and third for their
> arithmetic skills.
> > Karnataka occupied fourth place from the bottom
> when it came to
> > reading and took the last place in the country
> when it came to
> > arithmetic skills!
> >
> > "The huge surprise is that the situation in
> Karnataka, TN and Gujarat
> > is far worse than Bihar and Chhattisgarh.... The
> situation with
> > respect to mathematics is also alarming. IT hub
> Karnataka needs to
> > seriously think about the way mathematics is
> taught in
> > schools-government as well as private...," says
> the report.
> >
> > The ASER data makes the feelgood nature of the
> state propaganda on
> > school education seem a bit bizarre. The
> government has declared its
> > intention to achieve 85 per cent literacy in the
> state by 2007. But
> > what about the quality of education imparted? If
> schoolkids at
> > primary level are not picking up basic reading or
> math skills, what
> > hope for the future when the syllabus gets
> tougher?
> >
> > So is all the money the government is spending
> going down the drain?
> > Bhamy Shenoy, trustee of Pratham (Mysore) who
> helped put the ASER
> > report together, isn't optimistic: "This data
> would've made headlines
> > in any civilised country. Surprisingly, there is
> neither a mention
> > nor a statement by our state leadership."
> Karnataka education
> > minister Basavaraj Horatti, busy attending
> literacy rallies in rural
> > areas, was unavailable for comment.
> >
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Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College Park, MD 20740 USA
Current temp. address: 5649 Yalta Place , Vancouver, Canada
1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
Canada # (607) 221-9433
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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