| In drive to learn English, families use Sundays to stay close to roots | ||||
| The rush for English-medium schools continues. But here are some concerned parents who now enroll children in classes to learn their mother tongues | ||||
| Snehal Fernandes & Ketaki Ghoge | ||||
|
Mumbai, February 7, 2005 : RAVINA Lobo (11) is not new to elocution competitions or debates. Stage fright is not a concern either.
But when the Std VI student�dressed in black with bright pink lipstick�stepped on stage to deliver a speech on �The Day My Mommy Went On A Strike,� she had butterflies in her stomach.
��We hardly speak Konkani at home, so we got her enrolled at these classes,�� says Ravina�s mother Sunita. Her daughter now attends Konkani classes every Sunday afternoon, along with 52 other children.
��After all, the desire to get the children close to their roots needs to begin at home,�� says Sunita.
The 36-year-old homemaker�s desire is one shared by hundreds of parents in the city, who want to ensure that their children studying in English-medium schools don�t forget their roots.
��We realised our children were being alienated from their mother tongue. At home, children going to English-medium schools prefer talking in English,�� says journalist Dhansukh Maniar, member of the Sai Sarvajanik Trust.
The trust conducts Gujarati classes for 200-odd students every summer vacation.
Fenil Sheth (10) has been attending such classes for six months.
��I not only enjoy them but also complete their homework before my school work,�� he says.
Proud mother Bhavana adds: ��He can even read Gujarati newspapers now.��
Even the Kolkata-based Bangan Bhasha Prasar Samiti�it set up base in Mumbai in 1964�has found that nearly 25 per cent of its students come from Bengali-speaking homes.
��When we started, the motto was to teach Bengali to non-Bengali-speaking students,�� says Kalyan Dutta, joint secretary of the samiti and a Bengali language teacher.
��But today,�� he adds, ��we notice a rush by English-medium students for the prarambhik or beginner�s course.�� | ||||
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