The economics behind promoting local languages
I was at a government bank in India recently trying to get some work done. After waiting for a long time, went to the guy at the desk and asked.him in the local language if he could help me. I was ignored. So were the other folks near me, who were conversing in the local language. Based on my prior experience, I tried a trick I had used in similar situations. Spoke to the guy in English and .wonder of wonders, he responded so politely. Very soon, my work was done while the folks who came before me, but were conversing in the local language, were still waiting for their turn.
Traditionally in India, local languages have been ignored by governments, private and public institutions and in schools and colleges. If a child studies at an English medium school, parents take pride in showcasing their kids and proclaim it loudly that their child goes to an English medium school. Here is how it is detrimental to sound development of kids and a major flaw in the Indian education system.
Schooling and education:
Let us take an example. Assume a child studies 5 subjects (english, local language, science, maths, social studies). If the child does not have to study English and instead studies all subjects in the local language, the child would have at least 25% more time to concentrate on core subjects like science, maths and social studies. Besides the child is at ease since all the subjects are in a language they understand.
Teaching and publishing:
If the focus changes to the local language, their would be more teachers who would be able to articulate themselves in a language they are familiar with. More books would be published, which will give a fillip to the publishing industry. And given, the scale of digitization today, publishing includes both print and online media.
Research:
Since students have more time to spend on science, maths, they would make better scientists and researchers.
Job creation:
This is actually a double edged sword in today's world. You are more employable if you are English educated. However, the "focus on local language" paradigm will be a game changer. If industries start working.in the local language even at a senior level, their will be many more employable people than we have today. Jobs will be easier to fulfill since the only requirement is now knowledgeable resources and not knowledgeable plus English speaking.
What do we lose?
It is widely believed that the BPO operations are largely successful in India because India has a large English speaking population. This is however a myth. Many of these people.have to trained.in the right accents. If India.moves to a local language focus, will the services industry die its natural death? Not at all. A Microsoft or an IBM would now have to build software to support 20+ Indian languages, which in itself is an additional opportunity for both the employers and the employees. If they already make for Japanese, their is no reason why they can't.for Hindi or Oriya or Bengali.
I was at a government bank in India recently trying to get some work done. After waiting for a long time, went to the guy at the desk and asked.him in the local language if he could help me. I was ignored. So were the other folks near me, who were conversing in the local language. Based on my prior experience, I tried a trick I had used in similar situations. Spoke to the guy in English and .wonder of wonders, he responded so politely. Very soon, my work was done while the folks who came before me, but were conversing in the local language, were still waiting for their turn.
Traditionally in India, local languages have been ignored by governments, private and public institutions and in schools and colleges. If a child studies at an English medium school, parents take pride in showcasing their kids and proclaim it loudly that their child goes to an English medium school. Here is how it is detrimental to sound development of kids and a major flaw in the Indian education system.
Schooling and education:
Let us take an example. Assume a child studies 5 subjects (english, local language, science, maths, social studies). If the child does not have to study English and instead studies all subjects in the local language, the child would have at least 25% more time to concentrate on core subjects like science, maths and social studies. Besides the child is at ease since all the subjects are in a language they understand.
Teaching and publishing:
If the focus changes to the local language, their would be more teachers who would be able to articulate themselves in a language they are familiar with. More books would be published, which will give a fillip to the publishing industry. And given, the scale of digitization today, publishing includes both print and online media.
Research:
Since students have more time to spend on science, maths, they would make better scientists and researchers.
Job creation:
This is actually a double edged sword in today's world. You are more employable if you are English educated. However, the "focus on local language" paradigm will be a game changer. If industries start working.in the local language even at a senior level, their will be many more employable people than we have today. Jobs will be easier to fulfill since the only requirement is now knowledgeable resources and not knowledgeable plus English speaking.
What do we lose?
It is widely believed that the BPO operations are largely successful in India because India has a large English speaking population. This is however a myth. Many of these people.have to trained.in the right accents. If India.moves to a local language focus, will the services industry die its natural death? Not at all. A Microsoft or an IBM would now have to build software to support 20+ Indian languages, which in itself is an additional opportunity for both the employers and the employees. If they already make for Japanese, their is no reason why they can't.for Hindi or Oriya or Bengali.
