TURNING A BLIND EYE
The English daily with much history and name announced in jubilation that their survey has shown that the number of children in English medium Government schools have increased in Mumbai since last five years, the figures stood at about 35000. The report intended to convey that the priority of people is shifting from vernacular to English as it showed that the number of students in Marathi medium schools have declined by about 10,000 ;though it was a matter unreported that the number of students were still above 1 lakh way ahead of English! When the figures of other languages were observed closely it was interesting to see that the figures of Hindi was the highest above one lakh and to my surprise the urdu school goers was also above one lakh slightly behind Marathi. The report shows that how our proponents of English are blind to the existence of other Indian languages and in fact are insensitive. The longing to enrol one’s children in English medium schools among urban Indians is understandable because it is English which will fetch them jobs, but at the same time the fact that the vast majority is seeking education in its mother tongue should not be ignored. The largest daily in English should take note of the fact that it is not Marathi which is at number one but Hindi and Urdu and Hindi combined are above two lakhs. It is not to be ignored that the large number of Muslims of Mumbai are sending their children to Urdu medium schools and urdu therefore is still alive way ahead of English even if the English daily feels flattered on the rise of English. It is for the citizens to know the facts on ground and analyse other communities too in their survey, as they too are making progress.
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