We often hear about the importance of education in mother tongue (native language). There is a strong division among people who support education in mother tongue and those who do not support it. In India, most people prefer to send their kids to English medium schools over other mediums. There is a strong historical and practical reason why our people prefer English medium education over other languages. The other reason which cannot be ignored is the current job opportunity. India’s rapid growth in IT industry and BPO was mainly due to peoples proficiency in English.
Recently Tamil Nadu government announced that Engineering courses (Civil and Mechanical) would be offered in Tamil Medium. Inspite of being a state with strong linguistic ideology, this announcement did not get much response from the people. Even hardcore Tamil ideologists started to raise questions about job opportunity and how this will be implemented exactly. It should also be noted that as a country we are far behind in research and development field. And most of the jobs that are available in IT field today are service oriented.
Another reason for such reaction is because most of us equate intelligence with language. English is desirable over other languages in India when it comes to education. A person’s knowledge cannot be determined by the language he/she speaks or studies in. We fail to see language as a medium of communication. Instead we see a language as knowledge and as a tool to climb social ladder.
As per Tamil Nadu government’s announcement there will be only 1800 students who would study Engineering in Tamil medium. We cannot question these students knowledge just because they study the same subjects in different language. Mother tongue education will surely enhance the understanding of students. But we should also not ignore that these students, who would most probably come from Tamil medium schools, should not lack working knowledge in English. We should also not forget that most of our previous generation and current generation professionals did their schooling in non English medium and they do shine in their respective fields as much as students who did their schooling in English medium. It is also true that not every person who attend English medium school is proficient in English. So, we cannot really comment whether studying Engineering in Tamil medium will affect these students negatively.
The first step to introduce Engineering in Tamil medium would be by translating all the necessary books into Tamil. Not only the students who study in Tamil medium will use these books, but these books would be used by students who join English medium engineering courses but who had their schooling in Tamil medium. Translating technical books into Tamil was one request which was put forth by many people for a long time. This step would atleast help in translating few technical books into Tamil, which is a good start. At the same time the government should take care of students who opt Tamil medium engineering. And also take care that they are not discriminated during employment. There have been incidents where non English medium students were often looked down at universities, even by highly educated professors.
There will be many speculations about the future of these students who in a way are ‘test subjects’, but as said earlier, a persons knowledge cannot be measured by a language. As the famous Tamil proverb says ‘even thousand hands cannot hide the sun’, real talent will always shine out.
Hi Ankit, True, even I have seen many students who really struggle hard when they enter university from non English medium to English medium. Access to technical books in native language will surely help students.
Hey Wolfie, don't be embarrassed. English in a way acts as link language within India and also helps us to communicate outside India.
Karunanidhi wanted robo film to be renamed in tamil, which is named as endhiran. Poor fellow doesnot know that Yantr means machine in sanskrit which the tamils adopted as endhiram. It is not a tamil word. Most of the words in tamil are from sanskrit and telugu. POofellas
Every language has loan words from other languages. There are loan words in English from many Indian languages and vice versa. If your aim to comment here is to show the superiority of any language, then this is not the place.
Hallo,
There is lot of words common between tamil and sanskrit… It doesnt mean all words are tamil origin. I am a language researcher from germany. Even german is my native, I know tamil and sanskrit.. So both language lived in same era. so they share some works each other so even lot of tamil words are in sanskrit. Please stop telling all indian languages are from sanskrit.. Sanskrit is Old but even Tamil has nearly same age.. Even tamil may be older than sanskrit or otherway around…. Every thing depend on proof of old script….
wt yo said s a controversial statement,,, der s no evidence for sayin sanskrit is older than tamil,, many say sanskrit is older,,, bt wr s evidence, i say sanskrit came 4m tamil,,,,
I like this scheme.. This make talented students to stay in their home land.(not to fly USA)
Well..TN Govt's announcement is a bit hasty i think! Tamil maybe a classical language with a long histoy..but it lacks exact technological words equivalent to those in English. Some words are not at all user-friendly! Language's foremost requirement is communication. If these new technical tamil words are not user friendly, it'll naturally fizzle out in the long run. So..it's better to find out easy-to-use tamil technical words to lure ppl. then only we can think abt education in mother tongue! Moreover, Tamil is a regional language. It's reach is limited. when it comes to engineering it's job prospects requires proficiency in English.
Welcome Umbrella, Its too early to decide whether the decision is hasty or not. Also it is not necessary to translate each and every technical term directly into Tamil. The subject mater has to be in a language that can reach the students easily. I guess there are many non English technical terms used in English. Also it is not possible to question English proficiency of a person because of the medium of their instruction. Today not even 50% of Indian students do their schooling in English medium. Language proficiency is just a matter of time. And not every student who attends the top English school in the country excels in English. And I have already mentioned these in the above post. Also don't we try to learn other European languages apart from English and Asian languages 'cos of job opportunities? So, English is not everything. Providing the subject in Tamil does not mean that they will be ignorant to other languages.
well..i agree with u. But..English is always ready to adopt other words, if and when it suits it's purpose.Tamil is not like that. our Tamil fanatics never allow it to happen. B4 we think abt teaching engineering in our mother tongue, we should equip the language. otherwise, it wd be a big blunder. That's wt i meant in my previous comment.
True Umbrella! Literally translating word by word will not help. There should be some kind of flexibility while making the study material. And especially the Tamil fanatics should stay away in the process.
Thank you for Your dedication from Tamilnadu government.for engneering students. i welcome this scheme , which scheme has been coming in tamil to engneering students to help their study ? our tamilnadu government has taken this care of the scheme to poor family student , whoever finished their school life in tamil medium? im in happy much.. for this scheme comes as lotus … i lost my life past 3 years after my diploma course, i didnt continue my higher study because of language problem… now ,im ready to continue my higher study in my mother tongue in this year..after the 3 years.. come from bangalore . tamil nadu has more poor family students at tamilnadu like me , who is fearing to come to engneering study after their tamil medium? it’s most useful for poor family students ,so in this way, i send more thanks to tamilnadu government… Above mentioned that proverb is promise,”EVEN THOUSANDS OF HANDS CANNOT HIDE THE SUN,REAL TALENT WILL ALWAYS SHINE OUT” THANK YOU VERY MUCH..
Hai S.P.GOPINATH,
Your comment is nice…
hey i am sri i am study in enginnering my number 9688761269
How will the job opportunity be available?
Hi iam an engineering graduate keen to work on projects that involve translation of engineering books in tamil
can u let me know whom shud i appraoach
@ Tamizharasan, Engineering in Tamil medium is to help students who did schooling in Tamil medium. This will help them to understand the concepts better. But that does not mean they should totally forget English. They should surely have working knowledge of English to extend their horizon. So, in the four years of study they should also try to gain good working knowledge in English. And talented people will surely have lots of oppurtunity.
@ Muthukumaran, If I am not wrong, the text books are being translated by Anna univ. You could contact someone from there to know more about that.
Please tell me this year engineering civil tamilmedium unda nu sollunga
Please tell me this year engineering MECHANICAL tamilmedium unda nu sollunga