Making proficiency in Hindi a yardstick for appointments in Ekalavya schools has led to linguistic chaos, and divided staff, students, and parents. It highlights the need for a more inclusive and region-sensitive approach to education.
Published Jul 31, 2024 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 31, 2024 | 11:00 AM
Students are having a tough time since they don't have Kannada teachers for higher primary and high school classes in the Ekalavya Model Residential School in Chamarajanagar. (South First)
South First brings you a series of ground reports from across Southern states on the impact of the Union government’s decision to impose proficiency in Hindi as a mandatory yardstick for teachers’ recruitment to Eklavya schools. These schools are meant to focus on education for children from tribal communities. The language barrier is stressing parents and students. Worse, the Union government’s move is rendering native teachers jobless. This ground report from Karnataka is the second in the series. Read the first part here.
The Book of Genesis has put it succinctly. The tower at Shinar remained incomplete after the Lord confused the language of the world, and scattered the people across the face of Earth.
Such confusion now shrouds the Ekalavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), especially those located in South India, after the central government made proficiency in Hindi mandatory for teachers.
The Union government’s linguistic intervention saw an influx of teachers from North Indian states, most of them could not speak or understand any other Indian language other than Hindi.
This handicap has affected effective communication — a prerequisite for teaching and learning — between teachers and students, triggering questions about the Centre’s rationale for making Hindi compulsory in Ekalavya schools.
The schools now remain a reminder of the Tower of Babel, mysterious and incomplete.
The EMRS at Hanur taluka in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar is one of the schools set up across India specifically for students from the Scheduled Tribe communities.
It, too, is facing a linguistic crisis due to the absence of teachers to teach Kannada to Classes 6 to 10 students.
The school has no permanent or guest faculty to teach Kannada, making students struggling to cope with their studies.
This language barrier has sparked concerns among newly recruited staff, who are predominantly from non-Kannada-speaking states and are finding it challenging to communicate with students and parents.
Moreover, guest teachers and lecturers are unhappy with the new recruitment process, which prioritises Hindi language proficiency over regional language skills.
Students, particularly those who take the board exams, are worried about their academic performance due to the sudden switch to Hindi.
This linguistic chaos has created a divide among staff, students, and parents, highlighting the need for a more inclusive and region-sensitive approach to education.
Even after two months since the beginning of the academic year 2024-25, the authorities are yet to hire guest faculty for the Kannada language.
“I have been hired on a contract basis to take Kannada classes for Pre-University classes. There is not even a single faculty for Kannada for both higher primary and high school,” guest lecturer Dr Manju told South First.
“Whenever I am free, I am taking classes for the high school. As many as 24 posts were notified for Kannada high school teachers. Very few managed to clear the exam. The Centre did not notify openings for Kannada for pre-university classes this year,” he said.
He added that they are recruiting guest faculty for the Kannada language.
“We have asked some people to give demo classes for Kannada this week. We are most likely to have guest faculty for Kannada this year as well,” Manju termed it ‘unfortunate’ not to have Kannada teachers in Karnataka.
Students, too, expressed concerns over the absence of Kannada teachers. “It has been two months since the schools have started but we do not have any teachers for Kannada. Even for Class 10, we do not have a Kannada teacher. Kannada classes have remained unattended so far,” Yamuna, a Class 10 student, told South First.
Chamarajanagar EMRS has 14 regular staff members, and 13 of them are still wondering why they are in a non-Hindi-speaking state. They are struggling to have even normal conversations — forget teaching — with students, guest teachers, or parents.
Among the 52 sanctioned posts for teaching and non-teaching staff, the Union government has appointed ten Trained Graduate Teachers (TGT) and one post-graduate teacher (PGT). The remaining are non-teaching staff.
The school does not have a principal either. Economics PGT Rekha Rani has been holding the charge of the principal.
Admitting that language is the biggest barrier, EMRS in-charge principal Rani said most of her students can understand since the communication is mostly in English.
“We are unable to give our best. We studied in Hindi medium, whereas the students followed the Kannada medium,” the teacher from Delhi said.
“We are dependent on English to communicate with the students. Even students are finding it difficult to express their views/doubts freely. It is difficult to know what is going on in the minds of students,” Rani admitted to the communication gap.
She said that the problem is severe in classes 6 and 7 as the students cannot communicate in either English or Hindi.
“Whenever we have to interact with the parents, we depend on the old teaching staff (guest teachers) here. Even most circulars will be in Kannada. We are managing using translator applications,” Rani added.
“We are always in search of translators to understand the circulars. This has led to a division among the staff. We are comfortable with those who could communicate in English or Hindi. It is not the same with those who know only Kannada,” she pointed at a divide among the staff members.
Hindi teacher Vinay Kumar Tripathi has another perplexing issue at hand. He is teaching Hindi in English.
“Even Class 10 students lack basic knowledge of Hindi. I am communicating with the students in English. I am teaching Hindi in English,” he told South First.
“Students don’t know Hindi. I am perplexed by what previous Hindi teachers taught,” Tripathi replied when asked about how he is managing to connect with the students.
Rajasthan’s Meenakshi has been posted in the school to teach History. Ironically, the school does not offer History as an elective. teacher. This school does not offer the History subject.
“The school is yet to start offering the subject. So, I am teaching history to classes 6 to 8 students.
The situation with the non-teaching staff is not different.
Suraj Kumar from Uttar Pradesh is the new hostel warden. “The biggest problem is the language. People are nice. I am relying on gestures to communicate,” he said.
Kumar has been managing the hostel with the help of students who know a little bit of Hindi. The warden is now learning Kannada. He said Hindi was mandatory for appointment as warden.
He admitted that he is taking the help of a school security guard to communicate with the parents. “I am not able to follow Kannada. I am taking help from a security guard as he knows Hindi well,” he said.
Haryana’s Rahul D, the Junior Secretariat Assistant, often finds himself scratching his head. “The circulars are mostly in Kannada. There are local non-teaching staff, who help me with the language,” the official seems to have had enough of Chamarajanagar.
However, there is a catch. He has to complete the probation or three years before becoming eligible to apply for a transfer.
Principal-in-charge Rani was initially happy with the recruitment process since she cleared the regional language test. However, she now feels the exam pattern should be changed.
“If we look at this process, only candidates from the northern states will get selected as they are good in Hindi. However, this is not the case with the aspirants from the southern states. If the same procedure is continued then the south will be filled up with the people from the north,” she pointed out.
“We were told that we will not be able to apply for transfers till we complete the probationary period or three years. Even if we apply there is no guarantee that we will get placed in the north as the schools are few and no posts are vacant in any of the EMRS schools,” she said.
Teacher Shubam Verma, too, is unhappy with the recruitment process. “We must be appointed in North India so that we will be close to our families. As per the new timetable, we are allowed five days’ holiday. How can we give time to our family,” he asked.
Meenakshi echoed Verma’s opinion. Besides being a teacher, she is a mother of two children.
“I have two kids and have to leave them behind in Rajasthan to work here,” she said.
The new examination pattern for EMRS recruitment has sparked discontent among local guest teachers and lecturers, who feel their job opportunities are being unfairly curtailed.
Furthermore, guest faculty are protesting the mandatory requirement to appear and score at least 60 percent in Hindi, citing it as an unjust language barrier.
Meanwhile, several guest teachers/lecturers have lost their jobs this academic year after the Centre appointed regular staff.
“In 2018-19, this EMRS was upgraded to a residential school. There were no sanctioned posts when it was upgraded. For all posts, the authority hired guest staff,” guest lecturer Manju further said.
“There were no permanent staff until the start of this academic year. For the PU stream, the Centre has appointed lecturers for Economics and History. But, we do not offer Arts discipline here,” he pointed out.
Manju has been handling Kannada in pre-university classes for the past seven years.
Taking exception to the Centre’s decision making minimum marks in Hindi mandatory, Manju said: “We face a lot of issues as they made Hindi mandatory. Hindi is not mandatory for other competitive exams.”
“It was also mandatory to score minimum marks for English and regional language as well. As I do not know Hindi, I could not clear the exams. The students are facing problems now but they are somehow managing for the past two months,” Manju added.
When asked how teachers and students manage, he said each class has at least two to three students who can understand, read, and write Hindi. “The teachers take their help.”
The students are a confused lot after the new batch of teachers started teaching in Hindi. Those in Class 10 feel it would affect their performance in the upcoming exams.
With language barriers hindering their understanding of key concepts, students are relying on guidebooks, group studies, and other methods.
“I understand only a few words when the teachers take classes. I am not able to understand as they teach in Hindi. I do not know Hindi,” Sanjana, studying in Class 6, is unhappy about teachers teaching in Hindi instead of the local language.
Vedashree, studying in Class 10, told South First: “We are not able to understand anything that the new teachers teach as they communicate only in Hindi. We are finding it difficult to understand their language.”
“We are studying in Class 10 and have to take the board exams at the end of the academic year. The guest teachers used to take classes in Kannada and it used to help us a lot. Now, I am worried about the 10th results,” Vedashree added.
Class 10 student Aishwarya said the task ahead is tough with the teachers relying heavily on Hindi. “On the other hand, we now have teachers for several subjects,” she added.
Aishwarya said her parents suggested shifting to another school when they were informed about the problem. “Since the academic year has already started, we will not get admissions to other schools,” she added.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
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