Why Indian Students Must Learn Proper English Language
Kids Attending RMN Foundation School in New Delhi, India
Despite its burning need for students, educational institutions including schools and colleges in India are not equipped to teach proper English to students.
By Rakesh Raman
Rakesh Raman
Most would agree that English language has become a veritable raison d’être for people who want to progress in an underdeveloped country such as India.
So much so that even the uneducated politicians have started learning English secretly, though they promote Hindi and Sanskrit among the Indian masses.
While nearly 90% of the 1.25 billion people of India are illiterates (some with and others without academic background), English is believed to be the single most important factor that divides the educated from the uneducated class of society. You are considered an educated person and accepted in the society only if you know and demonstrate your skills in English.
Although the official work in India is done in English language, the government communications are so pathetic that you cannot make heads or tails of them. While you cannot expect Indian politicians to know English because almost all of them are uneducated, even bureaucrats are clueless about the use of English.
That’s why Indian politicians and bureaucrats prefer not to respond to citizens’ requests and the citizen services have always suffered in India. As a result, India continues to be an underdeveloped country.
English also holds paramount importance in building the career of a student because almost all the good learning literature for different subjects is available in English. Employers too expect you to know proper English.
If a student does not understand all aspects of English (such as reading, writing, speaking, listening, and debating), they cannot progress in their career and such students lack confidence to survive in the fast-paced modern world.
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However, despite its burning need for students, educational institutions including schools and colleges in India are not equipped to teach proper English to students. Indian teachers who are supposed to teach English language are so naïve and raw that they lack knowledge of finer nuances of English.
Schools and colleges must understand that English is not an easy language. Normally, a student needs to spend 10 to 15 years to learn even the fundamentals of English.
The professional English study – covering reading, writing, speaking, listening, and debating – is supposed to begin after a student has successfully undergone the fundamental English study of at least 10 years. But schools as well as teachers are not aware of this fact. The basic English that they teach is of no use in a student’s career.
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As the teaching standards in Indian schools are generally bad, the same holds true for English. Result: Indian students continue to suffer in their entire careers and most even lose self-esteem.
Consequently, their lack of confidence in themselves pushes them into a state of deep depression. Such students start looking old and tired even in the early years of their career.
Then, what is the remedy? Indian students as well as English teachers must adopt alternative forms of learning the language and its applications in the contemporary job markets.
Of late, RMN Foundation – which runs free schools to provide modern education to poor children – has developed an innovative English curriculum for its school students.
It is part of the Constructive Education Framework developed by the Foundation for its schools. The Foundation encourages other schools also to explore this curriculum to teach English to students.
Formed in May 2015, RMN Foundation is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of the Raman Media Network (RMN) Company, which is working in diversified content creation, management, and distribution businesses on a global scale.
RMN Foundation is registered as an educational and public charitable Trust with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi at New Delhi, India. You can get more information about RMN Foundation at its website.
By Rakesh Raman, the managing editor of RMN Company
