A lot of efforts are being done to improve the education scenario in Arunachal Pradesh by the state government. The efforts are, of course, laudable, when it is a question of education which is a prerequisite for the advancement of any society. However, it is necessary to go into the genesis of what ails our education sector before putting in steps to control the rot. For one, the State of Arunachal does not have a language of its own to be called mother tongue. Thus it has adopted English as the medium of teaching in schools. And in certain cases Hindi. Both are alien languages insofar as an average Arunachalee school-going kid is concerned. There has been a wrong concept or belief not only in Arunachal Pradesh but also in other parts of India that the key to success, job security and upward mobility in society lies in learning English. And parents are convinced that their children’s opportunities will increase if he or she is able to converse in English albeit with regional ‘tongues’.

They are right, but they are also wrong. Knowing English helps a lot in getting a good job, but only if that English is meaningful, accompanied by understanding and fundamental knowledge in all the other things children go to school to learn. The English used in most Indian schools simply does not allow for any real learning to take place. English is complex and fascinating. Given India’s linguistic diversity, the dream of a common language is quietly powerful. And English seems to many the only solution. Yet the results so far are abysmal.

What is quite disheartening is that India’s primary education is notorious for its rote learning, poorly trained teachers and lack of funding (India spends only 2.6% of its GDP on education). English as the language of instruction makes all of it worse. Consider school from the child’s perspective. Most kids are tiny when they set off from home to a strange atmosphere where everyone and even the language is strange. The teacher, who is also a stranger, expects children to master completely new concepts: reading and writing; addition and subtraction; photosynthesis; the difference between a city and state and country. All in a foreign language! And this is where the basic flaw lies.