Rajashri Iyer envisages the never-to-be-ruled-out needs of the English language in India with a narrow mapping of its evolution through the teaching-learning process.

“Learn to speak what you feel, and act what you speak.” – Baba

In fact every one wants to practice it but cannot. It is in a three dimensional aspect, as the statement itself has put up to be. The difficulty is with the articulation of the three aspects of susceptibility – feeling, speaking, and acting. A personal inhibition of pragmatic logic when work out between the second and the third, the language with which the articulation has to be done creates the hitch between the first and the second.

Language is as to the “cawing is to the crows or roaring is to the lions”. It has to be such a thing which should come out involuntarily, as the expression of our feelings – both in writing and in speaking. Language is a mirror turned toward your inner world, the culture you possess.

English in India

In a country like India, having a history replete with cultural invasions and burdened with a pell-mell of cultures and regional dialects, a link language is indispensable. Even after 62 years, India is still a British colony in her inner self.  Indians adore those who speak English fluently. With the gate crash of IT and globalizations, English became her primary necessity and English has become ‘a glue’ for the whole India which has 18 official languages to preserve.

Apart from its enormous utility, it is considered to be the language of gentlemen and sophisticated ladies. Indian markets are flooded with English titles. Indian newspapers hit the headlines in peppy English banners. If you travel through the length and breadth of India, you can feel the spell of English with which it has conquered the largest democracy in the world. English is emerging as the elite language in India in every minute, like a power upon, as it had been for a century before 1947.

The advent of English in India took place at a time when India was in a semi-feudal state of social development. English came here as the representation of bourgeois culture, art, and democracy. Its impact was deep and multifaceted. Though Indians boast over their ‘unity in diversity’, actually they are stifling inside, among this ‘diversity’. 28 states sing ‘Jana gana mana..’ as their national anthem, without knowing its full meaning, except Bengalis. The medley of regional dialects makes the domestic travelers confused. Despite the government declaration of Hindi as the National Language, almost 95% of South Indians are still unable to speak Hindi. They could at least understand Hindi, thanks to the Bollywood hits.

At this moot point, let me say, at the pinnacle of endurance, Indians picked the powerful dialect of English to talk to their ‘brothers and sisters’ of their neighboring states. (Most of our national leaders including Nehru and Bose had their education in England and they used this language to unite Indians against the English!!!). From the earlier sardonic mindset, the old fogies came to the sarcastic reality and ultimately to the practical present, where they could figure out the significance and necessity of English. Almost parallel with this phenomenon, the modish young generation met with several set backs in their social and professional life only because of the lack of proficiency in English. They began to adore, imitate and start to be trained in communicative English as well.

Pit falls of the Education system

English is being recognized by every one in India and as such, it took the absolute whip-hand in the country. It became the need of the hour.

But the pity is that, even though could write good English, nobody was able to speak it fluently. As innate to Indians, especially south Indians, inhibitions hitched their fluency while speaking. The fault was with the method of teaching English in the school levels.

English was taught in the Indian schools as a subject instead of treating it as a communicative medium. The teacher who teaches English would be a graduate in Science or Mathematics. They never possessed the needed knowledge about English grammar or syntax. Students were just parroting English essays and question-answer drills by notes. They regurgitated it into the answer sheets and scored marks, thanks to the memory power.

Evolution of English in India

When this generation grew up, they had to face many deplorable aftermaths of this kind of training. Their inability to communicate effectively in English, barred them from several opportunities. They had to remain tight-lipped even when ideas and answers were foaming inside.

However, these victims when they became parents decided their children not to suffer these ordeals and they availed admissions in sophisticated English medium schools. But that too was possible only for a small segment which possessed a good financial back up. Still a good majority has got pushed back in the onrush of globalization, as mere vegetables.

Then came, from the authoritative end, ‘measures to check the educational hazards’ which hinder the ‘bright future’ of the aspirants. Thus DPEP has got evolved and the teachers had to climb up to the top of a mango tree to ‘demonstrate’ the students how a mango is ‘born’ on a mango tree, and how it is available in the market for us to buy and bite. The system has got severe flays and eventually brought in, a dead end within 2-3 years of its implementation.

After 2 years of the new millennium, another innovative idea put forth by the researchers. The Education Department decided to appoint only English graduates with B.Ed in English as the English teachers. With the bombastic entrance of these new English teachers, well trained in English grammar and Language training techniques, there came a boom among the students. They got over the ‘trigonometrical’ and ‘geographical’ touch and go s and began to enjoy English poems and prose at ease. Students are happy, schools are happy, parents are happy…But the sad thing is that these teachers directly walk into the high school classes and never to the primary class!!
(As the red-knot inflicted bureaucratic system is still in its pupal stage in India, the appointment of English teachers is affected by the gruesome time lag which turns the goal upside down by appointing inappropriate candidates to the vacant posts. Sluggish fillings from the age old list lead to the outdated persons to teach the updated syllabus. The affluent people send their wards to CBSE schools while the students of government schools coming from poor families still continue to stifle to follow the new methodology despite the novel methods inculcated to their English language teachers through the cluster classes, usually in a weekly basis.)

Origin of duplicates

As the demand for English teachers increased, almost all spheres of life reflected its urgency and extravaganza simultaneously. Those who can spell others by speaking English became the center of requirement, though they lack the required qualifications. Sprouting of Spoken English coaching centers in every nook and corner of India became a common sight. They offered crash courses for those having ‘no time’ to spend. But some got on the nerves that only by giving coaching to the grown ups would not be enough for a country which lacks the ‘most wanted’ item.

As teachers play a vital role in the development of students, the teachers should be equipped with a good command over English. The ‘Spoken English people’ could convince the governing end, about this ‘rodent’ fact. So crash courses in Spoken English for the school teachers had been conducted from the management level. For this purpose, the private management, especially the schools run by the Christian missionaries (in fact they are the pioneers in bringing out a systematic and disciplined education system across the country through their convent mode), chose some Anglo-Indians. Along with this trend, the school curriculum has met with tremendous changes, but, as you know, the evolution process never stops. English education in India is still struggles to balance upon the wheels of school education at the front and ‘crash course practices’ at the back end.

(Continue reading the humorous experiences the author herself had on this matter and get a clean picture of the present scenario. Read ‘The Spoken English Teacher’)