English Medium school or Gujarati Medium School ( Any Regional language for that matter )
As the new born infant grows to become kid , the parents are required to take very important decision i.e. " Whether the kid should be admitted in English Medium school or Gujarati Medium ( Any Regional language for that matter ) "
Akshay's Parents faced the same dilemma when they had to take this decision for their child. As Akshay's Cousins were admitted in English Medium Schools , Akshay's parents wanted their child to study in English medium school. Today Akshay is in 10th standard. Till date He never got more than 50% marks. While his cousins never got below 80%. Well I completely agree with the view that today , Individual's talent , attitude is more important than marks he get in exams. The Problem is not that Akshay could not get more than 50%. The Problem is not that He always stood behind in studies compared to his cousins. The real problem is that he never grew as he should have grown.
In school , he could not understand half the things what ever taught to him. Not because he was dumb. It is because he was not able to catch up with the English language. At home , every one was used to speak in Gujarati only and Akshay never got the environment which can help him learn and speak English.
Seeing the situation of Akshay , Some well wishers of the family advised the parents to take the child out of English medium school and admit him in Gujarati medium school when he was in 4th standard. But Parents made this a Prestige issue and didn't follow the advices given to them.
Now the victim is The Child. He is complete confidence less. He does not socialize much. He is still wondering why he is not at par with his batch mates and all. He has failed twice . Today he is really worried that he wont be able to clear board exams and his career will come to an end.
As English has become regular part of Business communication and social communication , there was nothing wrong that Akshay's Parents wished to have their child to be competent in English. But they took wrong decisions.
The 1st wrong decision was to admit the child in English Medium School knowing that no one at home knew even the basic English. They could have got admitted the child in Gujarati Medium School and the child could have studied English as a subject. Later on He could have done his Graduation and Post Graduation in English Medium. Just the way I did. I did my schooling in Gujarati Medium and BBA and MBA in English Medium. Today , I am reasonably good at English. The good thing happened to me is that I did schooling in Gujarati Language. My mother tongue.
The 2nd wrong decision of Akshay's parents was to not to shift the child in Gujarati medium even after realizing that their child is not able to catchup. Their ego was more important than the child's future.
English is just a language. There is no reason to feel inferior just because you are poor in English. English is an easy language to learn. You need not know all the words in the dictionary. You need not know CAT Level English. You can learn the Basic English so that you can communicate with someone who does not know your mother tongue. In the end what matters is attitude and aptitude and not your proficiency in particular language.
Akshay's Parents faced the same dilemma when they had to take this decision for their child. As Akshay's Cousins were admitted in English Medium Schools , Akshay's parents wanted their child to study in English medium school. Today Akshay is in 10th standard. Till date He never got more than 50% marks. While his cousins never got below 80%. Well I completely agree with the view that today , Individual's talent , attitude is more important than marks he get in exams. The Problem is not that Akshay could not get more than 50%. The Problem is not that He always stood behind in studies compared to his cousins. The real problem is that he never grew as he should have grown.
In school , he could not understand half the things what ever taught to him. Not because he was dumb. It is because he was not able to catch up with the English language. At home , every one was used to speak in Gujarati only and Akshay never got the environment which can help him learn and speak English.
Seeing the situation of Akshay , Some well wishers of the family advised the parents to take the child out of English medium school and admit him in Gujarati medium school when he was in 4th standard. But Parents made this a Prestige issue and didn't follow the advices given to them.
Now the victim is The Child. He is complete confidence less. He does not socialize much. He is still wondering why he is not at par with his batch mates and all. He has failed twice . Today he is really worried that he wont be able to clear board exams and his career will come to an end.
As English has become regular part of Business communication and social communication , there was nothing wrong that Akshay's Parents wished to have their child to be competent in English. But they took wrong decisions.
The 1st wrong decision was to admit the child in English Medium School knowing that no one at home knew even the basic English. They could have got admitted the child in Gujarati Medium School and the child could have studied English as a subject. Later on He could have done his Graduation and Post Graduation in English Medium. Just the way I did. I did my schooling in Gujarati Medium and BBA and MBA in English Medium. Today , I am reasonably good at English. The good thing happened to me is that I did schooling in Gujarati Language. My mother tongue.
The 2nd wrong decision of Akshay's parents was to not to shift the child in Gujarati medium even after realizing that their child is not able to catchup. Their ego was more important than the child's future.
English is just a language. There is no reason to feel inferior just because you are poor in English. English is an easy language to learn. You need not know all the words in the dictionary. You need not know CAT Level English. You can learn the Basic English so that you can communicate with someone who does not know your mother tongue. In the end what matters is attitude and aptitude and not your proficiency in particular language.
posted by Paras Shah @ 2:25 PM
18 Comments
18 Comments:
Yes thats true. even I was in Gujarati Medium school and in college I was in english medium.
Thats false,
English medium has nothing to do with child not performing well in studies. By that standard everyone studying in gujarati medium school will be getting 80%, but thats not the case.
The problem is with our education system which does not identify talent and is based solely on marks obtain in theroy exams.
I dont think this guy would have perform any better if he would have studied in gujarati medium.
Kinda true...but can't say much about it 'cause it also depends on a child's grasping power...
At home,no one speaks English,but the child could've always learnt it at school --That's my personal opinion.
Depends on child's caliber according to me..
^_^
Hi!
I'm in the 10th standard and I have seen many of my classmates facing this problem. Parents should not follow the crowd blindly without understanding.
I just came across your blog. I'm from Ahmedabad too. You have a nice blog. Keep it up :D
This is a nice topic to be discussed. I"m a 42 year teaacher of English in Gujarat board, Gujarati medium school. I"ve been teaching English for nearly 16 years. I was born and brought up in a village in Surat district by naer illliterate parents. Today I sppeak Englsih with American accent. What I"ve observed and written in Gujarati dailies that educating kid in an English medium scshool isn't a solution. Make him/her get command over the language. Gandahiji and Gunvant Shah propounded the idea of getting mastery over the 2nd language rather than educating child in an Englsih medium environment. More over, it's been observed that the students having studied in Gujarati medium schools speak flawless English than the ones who studied in English medium schools.
Viral Vyas.
I agree with Viral.
It's not about studying. It's about getting command over the language. In situations similar to the one described in this post where a kid can't learn English much because of the poor quality of study and/or lack of appropriate environment and encouragement at home, it's better that he's taught in a regional language but learns English via other media like coaching.
Well even I choose to disagree on this one... English medium school is no more a prestige issue, its the need of the hour... All the important areas like science, business, politics etc. use English as a medium of language... Even if that child had studied in Gujarati medium, he would have to polish his skills in English if he ever wanted to become someone important in life... I think if those relatives who suggested the shift to Gujarati medium, encouraged him to learn English by trying to learn English themselves, more good would have come to the family...
I agree that we shouldn't feel inferior if we don't know English, it is not meant for family conversations anyway(ema toh hamesha matrubhasha ja sauthi uttam chhe) but there is really no harm in learning it when you see all the benefits of knowing it...
In our school they used to teach both Hindi and English to the Jr. KG students and they did really well to understand those languages... A little kid can learn things much faster than an adult so if proper care was taken to teach the child he would have learned...
We all know that Gujarati's are the people with most 'foreign fetish'... Everyone dreams of going abroad isn't it ironic that we are also the people who detest English and think that every English speaking person is snobbish?
I've cousin who was first admitted to english medium school, and later to a gujarati mediam school by his parents following a thought that he's not good at learning in english. Actually he had a hard time understanding what his teacher was teaching, and surprisingly he found it more difficult to learn in gujarati. The medium was never a problem for him, the system was. The STUPID teachers (not all, bt majority) ruins lives with their poor understanding of child psychology. They just want to complete the syllabus somehow.
Well, where there is a question of sending the child to english or gujarati medium, it depends on the parents personal choice and most importantly the association of other children the child is going to have in school.
I dont really belive this .I was admited to english medium school. My parents never talked with me in english ever.We still talk in gujrati at my home, marathi or hindi with my friends @ school n neighbourhood. I rarely find myself talking in english except where its official. My mom dosent even knw how to speak in english even now.
So blaming the whole issue on english medium is not really true. What if the same guy would have scored less in gujrati medium?
N btw english medium helps in long run. I have seen many of my friends in graduation not able to understand and grasp the language taught in college dat quickly as I do .
I guess its better to be trained in a language which u knw will be medium of learning wen u do ur grads and post grads.
@all :
I am convinced that putting a kid in English language schools was not a mistake. So here I am changing My opinion regarding the same.
However, I still believe that once they realized that the guy is not doing good in English medium , they could have transferred him to Gujarati medium school.
Another cousin of mine was put in English medium schools , he was not able to cope up. He was transferred to Gujarati medium school. Later on he got 82% in 10th and 87% in 12th. He would be on toppers list in case he had 3 marks more. Again, I am not talking about marks. But something else.
Paras,
Gujaratis are 500 years behind the world; in the current set-up..90% of Gujaratis do not aim beyond 'Khaao, peeu and soovu'.
I am also a Gujarati and have experienced this attitude well. My cousin, who had studied in Gujarati medium throughout, cannot even speak a sentence flawlessly. He is just proud of being a Gujarati and nothing else..I need to write every cover letter for his job application...
This is not because he never studied in English medium.It's because he was never open to learning anything new;and just kept on revolving around the cocoon of Gujarat.....
Regarding me, I have an equal command over 4 languages-English, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati...When I speak in Marathi, people look upon me as a Maharashtrian girl.Moreover, I stood 3rd in Maharashtra in Hindi in 10th board exams.
I am an engineer by profession and do work as a business content editor.
Gujaratis are the laziest people on the earth; after Africans..They cannot transcend the barriers of 'Jalebi-phaphada'.......
That's why, the education standard of Gujarat is the worst all over India.Even UP and Bihar have fared better; as far as national survey is concerned...Moreover, Gujaratis condone the education of a girl child; which results in maximum drop-outs. As per survey, only 26% of Gujarati girls pursue higher education..
Utter shame on Gujaratis.......Neither are they strong physically nor are they fit mentally.....
I am happy that I could obtain the best education from Oxford of the East, i.e. Pune;and did not carry that typical 'Gujju' mind-set with me.......
God has blessed me day in and day out !!!!!
my parents always knew that English medium gives the student better job opportunities...
But they also knew that I would never work under someone, and therefore I can AFFORD studying in the language my mother speaks.
Today, I'm a self employed guy, a doctor, significantly poor in spoken English than my assistant who studied in English medium.
But still, I'm the Boss.
:)
To Minal,
I agree that gujaratis don't care that they are poor in english... But what's the problem with that? Why is it so necessory to speak english miss 'oxfordian'?(by the way, this self acclaimed status of Pune is quite funny:D)..
p.s. I'm an original marathi brought up in gujarat, and i love gujaratis over any people in India.
English is language, it cane be learnt at any stage of life. for English we should not sacrifice childhood of our child.
The thing can be learnt in Gujarati easily and with interest.
But our now a days English is status symbol.
Both Languages are good. it's Depends on your child's and your family culture how's it will be growth.
nice to see your intersting post.
you can also find Boarding Schools in Ahmedabad.
WHO recommaned to study the child in yuor monther tounge. Other separate research shows it reduces your 60% time compared to second language. It's better to study in mohter tounge. You can take example of any developed country like Germany, Frache lots of europin country, Japan, China... so on they learn even their master and Ph.D in their mother tounge still they are good in all respect. India is one of the country obssessed by English. Always knwolege comes first not language. There lots of people in english speaking country which are who speaks english but employed below the immigrant who speaks other then english language as first language. So, Knowlege is the key which you can get faster and easier way in monther toungue. read WHO report. English is imporant language. So, partents should teach the kids as soon as possible but a second language.
WHO recommaned to study the child in yuor monther tounge. Other separate research shows it reduces your 60% time compared to second language. It's better to study in mohter tounge. You can take example of any developed country like Germany, Frache lots of europin country, Japan, China... so on they learn even their master and Ph.D in their mother tounge still they are good in all respect. India is one of the country obssessed by English. Always knwolege comes first not language. There lots of people in english speaking country which are who speaks english but employed below the immigrant who speaks other then english language as first language. So, Knowlege is the key which you can get faster and easier way in monther toungue. read WHO report. English is imporant language. So, partents should teach the kids as soon as possible but a second language.
i had takem my son's admission in gujarati mediem for junior kg.actually i put my son in play group before joning junior kg,and there he learned all alphabet ,animal,birds name in english.now i am confuse my son now understand gujarati language and remember all the animals name in gujarati,i feel awkward for him.
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