In a globalizing India, we need high-level multilingual skills, and a mother-tongue based multilingual education is the most effective way of achieving this multilingualism. This is the thesis of this essay.

In India, as everywhere in the world, children of linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples (STs) have a mother-tongue (MT or L1), and need at least one other non-MT, “livelihood language”. Besides, in post-Independence India, the medium of higher education has largely become English. Similarly, the higher reaches of the State’s bureaucracy and judiciary, as well as the private sector function (again, largely) in English. There is thus a high premium on acquiring this particular non-MT (an L2 or L3 for most Indians).

Non-functional schools
By and large, our educational system does not seem to be giving language skills even in the MT. PROBE 2006 (Public Report on Basic Education) reports that when researchers made unannounced visits to government schools in rural India, they found that in half the schools no teaching was happening on the day of the visit. Not surprising then that educational outcomes are so poor. ASER 2008 for rural India reports that only 56 per cent of Class 5 children can read a Class 2 textbook! That is, 44 per cent cannot even do that. And this is in the mother-tongue.

Notwithstanding the NCERT’s recommendations in its National Curriculum Framework, children of linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples continue to be taught in a non-MT. For them the situation is worse. Government statistics show an 82 per cent drop-out among ST students in Andhra Pradesh in the first 10 years of schooling; 73 per cent of ST women are illiterate.

Language impoverishment
UNESCO statistics show that in India, 13 per cent of the population of tertiary age are in higher education. (In China it is 22 per cent and in South Korea, 96 per cent of the population in that age group is in higher education.) These 13 per cent come out with woefully inadequate English. In the magazine Outlook (24 March 2008), one Human Resources executive reported to Anjali Puri that her company “rejects 92-93 per cent of applicants for poor English”. Another “puts the rejection rate for non-engineering graduates applying to the IT and IT-enabled sector, both in “voice” and “non-voice” roles, at 82-83 per cent, for lack of soft skills, including written and oral English. About 65-75 per cent of applying engineers are rejected for the same reasons.”

Indeed, as Puri observes, “The teachers make an important fundamental point, which I hear repeated, time and again, by teachers in other institutions. These problems have their roots in students being language-impoverished rather than just English-impoverished (that is, demonstrating a poor ability in regional languages too)”.

English-medium education
The manifest facts thus are of non-functioning schools, and to the extent that they do function, poor educational outcomes (in both the mother-tongue and in English). Trying to make up for these two deficiencies is the country’s burgeoning English-medium education system. The urgent desire for an English-medium education is quite evident (see Amit Kaushik’s essay in the ASER 2008 report) – especially among the traditionally marginalized groups in our deeply unequal society (see Alok Mukherjee’s recent study This Gift of English for one account). But the strategies proposed are mistaken – the fallacies of early and maximum exposure. Starting L2 as early as possible, and teaching as much of the curriculum as possible through the L2 does not result in effective or widespread L2 acquisition. At best, this results in “subtractive bilingualism”: an L2 acquired at the expense of L1. Most often, the result is simply language impoverishment; not being able to use either L1 or L2 adequately.

MT-education evidence
Worldwide there is overwhelming evidence for the effectiveness of MT-based education. One recent overview is the collection edited by Ajit Mohanty and his colleagues, Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the Local (2009). The essays in that volume abundantly confirm the following excerpts from the “Mother tongue first” issue of the development magazine id21 insights:

• “It is now well established that when a child begins learning in his or her first language that child is more likely to succeed academically and is better able to learn additional languages.”
• “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, states that all children have the right to education (Article 28), and the right to learn and use the language of their family (Article 30).” (The 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples further supports this.)
• “A recent review of cost-benefit analyses for the 2006 African Education Ministers’ Meeting shows that education programmes starting with the mother tongue and gradually moving into other languages lead to cost savings compared to monolingual programmes. If they are more expensive at the beginning, costs decrease over time and savings (not paying for children to repeat years, for example) far exceed initial investment.”

Thus, educational theory, a rights-based approach, and returns on investment all indicate the desirability and effectiveness of an MT-based multilingual education. The Mohanty volume cites examples from Orissa, Nepal and Ethiopia of successful “additive” education programs to show both their pedagogic effectiveness, and to show that even relatively resource-poor education systems can deliver more just and inclusive education.

Here, then, is the education-package distilled from the research evidence by the World Esperanto Association, an organization for linguistic human rights:

The right of children to learn their mother tongue and continue their education using their mother tongue is not only important for their culture, it is essential for their psychological development. It has been shown in many large-scale studies in several countries that if indigenous and minority children have their education mainly using their own languages as the teaching language for the first 6-8 years (with good teaching of the dominant language as a second language, given by bilingual teachers), their general school achievement is better and they learn the dominant language better than if their teaching is through the medium of the dominant language. If they have only a year or two in the mother tongue and are then transferred to the dominant language, they may manage fairly well at the beginning, but from approximately fourth grade on, their progress starts slowing down and the gap between them and dominant language children continues to widen.

The author writes in English and Esperanto on multilingualism and education. His English blog Bolii is at http://bolii.blogspot.com. He can be reached at agiridhar.rao@gmail.com.

• Too many languages too soon?
• Overcoming the language barrier

Thangam is in Upper Kindergarten (UKG) this academic year. Her medium of instruction is English and as a second language she learns Hindi. She moves into the first class next June and from there on she will be taught an additional language. Most parents this reporter has spoken to ask in unison the big question why and toward what end. As it is she starts to learn other subjects in class one and to an already loaded bag of woes should we add another? That extra period, they feel, can be better utilized. The mentality of the toad in the well is questioned as the outlook in terms of language learning is very region (India) based and not global. Some parents point to the example set by Kerala, our most literate state. Kerala has introduced sports as a subject in the curriculum to fulfill the need of the growing child; the need of nourishment for the body and mind. To arm the child with the necessary tools for survival both professionally and individually is the sole aim parents take into count. How will the third language add or diminish his/ her ability is the moot point.

One theory of learning suggests that the pupil should learn his mother tongue first or learn his lessons in his native tongue. Some scholars refute this. The argument made is, where in a country like India do we find a teacher (in every school) to impart lessons in that certain tongue, to find at least ten who want to learn in that same language as is the norm? Impractical to say the least. So how do we deal with this issue of language and learning? Of the need or the futility of learning three languages at one go? Of using language as a window to opportunity rather than a barrier? What would be the most sensible – or pragmatic – course of action?

We spoke to a sprinkling of academics and educationists on this issue. Presented here are their views and observations:

Heavy burden

“THE three-language formula was first proposed at the Chief Ministers’ conference in 1961. In most states, only two languages are taught.

It is sufficient for children to learn English and the mother tongue, or any other suitable language, especially those who live in states where the mother tongue is not available in schools. Definitely, an impracticable system should not be implemented.

The learning burden on children is too great with three languages and leads to confusion in the use of languages. Two languages are the norm in many countries. So, two languages must be learnt.

English and Hindi are designated as official languages in the Constitution; they are meant for specific purposes, for use in specific contexts. Progress in modern times is directly related to knowledge of English. Crucially, only English can bring the weaker sections of the country into the mainstream.

The highly literary Hindi taught in schools is of little use in everyday life. Hindustani, so strongly advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, is more common on the streets. The spread of Hindi is happening primarily through the Hindi film industry and a little due to television. This too however is restricted to some urban areas in the non-Hindi speaking regions. For the rest of the country, Hindi has no relevance.”

Pingali Sailaja, Professor, Department of English, University of Hyderabad.

Facing up to the challenge

“THIS is a complicated issue in schools. We are a country with many well developed regional languages. Central Educational Boards such as CBSE and CISCE have drafted this three language formula with a view to encourage mother tongue, other languages of India and a foreign language to make sure that Indians make a mark globally and to a great extent Indians have made their mark with an additional language. It is heartening to note that World Curriculum Boards, such as IBO, insist that the schools makes their plan to encourage the mother tongue of the students.

In middle schools 3 to 4 years of an extra language (to a large extent functional) will greatly help the students appreciate languages and also help them to learn a new language when required, without any inhibition.

At our school in addition to English, Hindi and Telugu, we have other languages too namely Sanskrit, French and German. Therefore children are exposed to a Third language for a period of 4 years (Grade 5 to Grade 8). NRI students coming back to India get a chance to learn an extra language at this level. Eg. A student coming from USA, without studying any Indian Language, at this level (Grades 5-8), is required to study an Indian language (Hindi, Telugu…..) apart from their other two languages say, English, French or Spanish. This is working fairly well here, but we do have concerns in motivating the students to learn an extra language. This is a challenge, which we have accepted and are working continuously on.

We therefore advocate an extra language at the middle school level. Schools need to solve their own problems arising out of this, such as additional faculty, financial burden, etc.”

V Srinivasan, Principal, Sreenidhi International School, Hyderabad.

A binding language is best

“The three language system is a practical one. The need of the hour is a language that unites and not divides and spoken without the restrictions of region, caste or creed. Preference should be given to the mother tongue; but what about those children who relocate to the other parts of India? English is spoken only by 3% of the Indian populace but at the global scenario it is a must. I’m from Bihar and we have five languages spoken and Mithali used widely. Hindi is not the mother tongue of any state in India. In South India all four states have a mother tongue while in the North, Sanskrit is logged in as their preferred language. The north eastern states have embraced English and very little precedence given for the native tongue. My suggestion to erase the north south divide is to adopt Hindi in the south and any one of the southern languages be adopted in the north as three of the four tongues spoken have a Sanskrit base. The ethos of unity in diversity can be adhered to by following this method. The child at five is ready to receive the three languages easily. My grand daughter speaks Hindi, Telugu, English and Mithali and she is just four. Every state has a favourite spoken language and a few dialects in tow, in order to get some compromise language as the third one, I admit, is a Herculean task. It is imperative in order to save the delicate bonding of this great nation that a binding language is agreed upon not for political or regional gain but for the first and basic want of preservation.”

Dr Ahilya Mishra, Author and Administrator, Mahila Navjeevan Mandal, Education Group of Institutions, Hyderabad.

Verbal efficacy is important

“NOW there are approximately six lakh Asian engineers out of jobs around the world. The reason why this has happened is the competency levels as far as skill sets go and which the companies are looking out for, is missing in these job aspirants. Degrees do not get you through, one should be equipped with excellent communication and that does not mean knowing many languages but verbal efficacy in order to impress the interviewer.”

The debate on which language and when goes on, guided often not by the interests of the child and the wisdom gained through research on cognition and development, but by politics and expediency. While both teachers and school administrators struggle with practical constraints like time tables and teaching materials, not to mention teaching capacity, the child continues to muddle along, his or her education impeded by a poor facility with language.

George Rancourt, CEO, Global TCA (Training Consulting Associates) and Formerly, Director of Training for Asia Pacific at Monster.Com.

The author is a freelance writer based in Hyderabad. He can be reached at Mathieu_antoine1@hotmail.com.

• From mother-tongue to many tongues
• Overcoming the language barrier

If language is not correct then what is said is not what is meant, and if what is said is not what is meant then what must be done remains undone!!!– Confucius

This could not have been more true in the case of Josh Anoch and David (expatriate children from Korea who had joined the Jain Heritage Cambridge school in Hyderabad). They had to deal with the uphill task of learning Hindi as their second language.

Initially, sounding Greek or Latin, if not a mix of both, they missed out on many things while trying to learn the Indian language until their teacher, Mr. Prabhat Kumar, devised new ways to reach out to them. He started conversation-based activities wherein the children started learning phrases that found usage in everyday conversation. Stress was laid on communicative language rather than on the usage of grammar in its correct form and the children started adjusting well in class.

While language is arguably an important tool to express oneself and to bridge gaps and transcend barriers, it can also seem an insurmountable hurdle especially if the language or the medium is new. One can get a glimpse of this by just observing children as they learn to make the transition from one medium to another. They face an onslaught of discrimination which, on occasions, can affect them emotionally. Underprivileged children also go through a similar situation when attempts are made to integrate them into the mainstream. To overcome issues like these, Gitanjali Devashray school has embarked upon an initiative along with the Smile Foundation’s `Kid’s XL Programme’ wherein underprivileged children from Mahita School get to spend joint sessions with the students of Gitanjali Devashray.

Here are a few simple but handy learning approaches that will work well and help break language barriers and build bonds!

1. One way evidently, is to emphasize communicable language (phrases) rather than the usage of grammar. For example, learning basic phrases / groups of words that are fundamental to communication like: come here, go there, sit down, do this, do that, draw this, write that, see this. These, in any language, can ensure that basic operational words of communication are conveyed and the learner can start to use the new language. Your job then is to build on this. The focus initially therefore can be on implicit language learning rather than explicit grammar learning.
2. Using learning aids like flash cards is another way. This could prove quite useful especially in cases where a child is learning to identify letters/numbers.
3. Another good way is to enact stories rather than read them out. As the saying goes: “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.’’ Taking short stories with morals, and with a lot of action, help children understand the central idea of the story and more easily; infer the messages while learning to communicate.
4. Devising activities that involve all children will greatly help them learn the new language. This ensures that all are on a level-playing field. They could be through simple art and craft activities – say drawing on a common theme, watching a movie, listening to or playing music.
5. Games and exercises that call for team work will help them interact with one another. For example, solving puzzles jointly, crossword, spelling bees, guided story writing / narration.

A mix of these could be a handy tool kit for the teacher and the child.

The author is a teacher at Gitanjali Devshray, Hyderabad. She can be reached at reachanjali@gmail.com.

• From mother-tongue to many tongues
• Too many languages too soon?

Magnetism and electricity are topics that recur through the middle and high school physics syllabi. You can use this article as a simple refresher for your students or to activate your class with a different set of learning tasks to augment what is in the textbook.

What is magnetism?
Magnetism is defined as the force exerted by a magnetic field or as the class of phenomena exhibited by a magnetic field or the branch of physics that studies this force and these phenomena.

The author is a software engineer. She can be reached at sudharang@gmail.com.

This is an article for subscribers only. To subscribe click here.

The circus was in town and it always made Happy feel excited. It was a bright and sunny day. Happy set out for a walk to meet his circus friends. Suddenly he heard voices and saw Sultan the lion, Frisky the clown and Patch the giraffe talking very seriously. “I wish I could jump through the ring perfectly,” said Sultan. “I hate to disappoint the children watching me. But everytime something goes wrong.” “I know how you feel. I have been wanting to make the children laugh at my new trick, but I just can’t get it right,” said Frisky. Patch also thought awhile. “… and I must kick the ball well. Every day I take care but I still miss the kick. It is not perfect. The people feel so sad.” “How right you are! I understand. We all feel the same!” said Frisky.

The authors are partners in Edcraft, Hyderabad, a firm engaged in making teaching-learning materials, conducting workshops and providing consultancy services. They can be reached at edcraft94@gmail.com.

This is an article for subscribers only. To subscribe click here.

Chess is a popular and very engaging game and probably stimulates the mind like no other. Apart from playing chess, the chess board inspires you to think of other challenging games that can be played. The grid like pattern on the board gives you opportunities to to do lots of things like move tokens, arrange them, make patterns, count, connect, etc. The black and white squares are visually interesting and can be used to add challenges. So why not try out a few of these games played on a chess board in your next class?

The authors run Geniekids, a learning centre in Bangalore that works with children. To know more about their work visit www.geniekids.com.

This is an article for subscribers only. To subscribe click here.

India has made great strides in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and yet there are considerable gaps in people’s knowledge about the illness and misconceptions abound as to how HIV/AIDS spreads. As a result, people with HIV/AIDS continue to be discriminated against. If people affected by HIV/AIDS have to be accepted by society we need to have better informed communities, so that younger people, particularly children, are armed with the right information and the right attitude to deal with the risk of HIV infection. The National AIDS Control Organization reports that there are 53,000 HIV positive children in our country today. According to UNAIDS, young people starting from their teenage years are at increased risk of contracting the illness, as about one third of the HIV positive cases in our country belong to the age group of 15 to 25 years.

Today, talking about HIV/AIDS to children is not a choice but a pressing need. We need to start a dialogue with children wherever it would be most effective. As with many other health issues the best place to address this most effectively is when children are in school. Teachers, being among the most influential people in a child’s life, are best placed to impart information on HIV/AIDS.

Therefore it becomes crucial that teachers are well informed about HIV/AIDS. Do we know how teachers view HIV/AIDS and related issues? How much do they know about HIV transmission and issues surrounding HIV/AIDS? How do teachers today discuss these matters with their students? Talking about HIV/AIDS also means having to touch upon sex and sexuality – are these issues addressed by teachers in schools? Earlier studies have revealed that knowledge about HIV/AIDS varies amongst teachers in India, as do the practices of imparting sex education in schools. To assess the current situation, Kalanjiyam Trust recently conducted a study among teachers in four districts of South India. The results, which were quite interesting, were presented at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) held in Indonesia in August 2009. The study involved 100 teachers from urban and rural areas in the four selected districts. The teachers were asked to fill an objective pre-coded questionnaire which elicited their views and practices on life skills and sex education in schools, and assessed their knowledge, views and perceptions of HIV/AIDS and its importance for young people.

Profile of Teachers
Of the teachers surveyed, 57% were from government schools, 24% from private and 19% from other government aided schools. In 65% of these schools the main medium of instruction was the local language, English was the medium of instruction in 24% of the schools and 14% of schools used both English and the local language as the medium of instruction. The mean age of the teachers in the study was 41 years with 68% being between 25-45 years of age. On an average the teachers interviewed had about 13 years of teaching experience.

HIV/AIDS knowledge
The study found that all teachers were aware of one or more ways in which HIV spreads and 69% of the teachers had knowledge of all the four ways in which the illness spreads. When asked how one could identify whether a person had contracted HIV/AIDS, fewer than one-third of the teachers reported that HIV could only be medically diagnosed through a blood test (31%). About 39% of the teachers were not aware that there were drugs to treat those affected by HIV/AIDS and 18% reported they were not sure or did not respond. Though 43% were aware of drugs to treat people affected by HIV/AIDS, few (18%) were able to name them or the treatment (ART).

There were misconceptions about how HIV spreads among 16% of the teachers. The most common misconception was that HIV can be cured (27%). But there were others as well. For instance, 14% believed that HIV spreads through sneezing, coughing or spitting, 13% said it could be transmitted through saliva, tears or sweat, and 6% believed that sharing clothes with an infected person could pass on the virus. 21% of teachers thought that HIV/AIDS could be prevented by regular physical exercise and 55% said by abstaining from sex. One-fifth of the teachers knew of people affected by HIV/AIDS.

However, despite the relatively high level of awareness, about 57% of the teachers did not think that young people were at any greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

Yet a disproportionately high number (91%) agreed that young people need to be well informed about HIV/AIDS. Nearly half the teachers agreed that the best place for young people to learn about HIV/AIDS was the school (47%), while 21% thought they should read books on the subject, 17% said doctors were the best to impart such information, 7% said parents and the remainder said from others.

Life skills and sex education
About 65% of the teachers reported that they had taught some aspect of life skills education, though less than 40% of teachers had received any formal training on life skills education. Teachers’ views on what encompassed life skills education was limited with only 9% considering sex education or talking about HIV/AIDS a part of life skills education. When asked about the need for sex education, 59% of the teachers agreed that sex education should be included in the school curriculum. About 42% of the teachers said sex education was included in their school curriculum presently.

For those who disapproved of sex education in school, the most common reasons were: school was not the right place, talking about sex would instigate risky behaviors, could be distracting to students and that parents may disapprove.

Discussion
The findings from the study suggest that there is a definite need to strengthen the gaps in knowledge and understanding of HIV/AIDS and life skills education among teachers. While teachers recognize that students need to know about life skills and HIV/AIDS, there is poor understanding of what life skills education comprises. More initiatives are required to strengthen the knowledge of teachers about HIV/AIDS and to equip them with the necessary skills.

While there is agreement that including HIV/AIDS and sex education in the school curriculum is an important pre-requisite for reducing vulnerabilities among future generations, their inclusion is still controversial and hotly debated in our country. Very rarely is HIV/AIDS discussed in the home; most often young boys and girls learn about sexuality through the media, through friends or other non formal sources. It is important that as a society we ensure our children get to hear about sex through gatekeepers such as teachers, so that they get the correct information. For this, both formal and non-formal opportunities should be made available for teachers to bring HIV/AIDS and sex education to students. It is important that we advocate the creation of an environment that makes this possible.

The author is founder and director, Kalanjiyam Trust, Chennai. He can be reached at kalanjiyam@gmail.com.

Gerry’s love for animals led him to take up his first job as a student keeper at Whipsnade Park Zoo in London. With the £ 3000 that he inherited from his father, at 21Gerry set off on his first animal collection expedition to the British Cameroons (now known as Cameroon). From then on for the next 10 years he conducted similar expeditions to Cameroon, British Guiana (now known as Guyana) and other places to collect animals for his zoo.

In 1958 Gerald Durrell set up the Jersey Zoological Park which housed endangered species and ensured their survival by captive breeding. In 1963 the zoo was turned into the charity ‘Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’. The trust has saved many endangered species and aided their way back to the wild. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust has established various initiatives like the inter-zoo exchange programme, cooperative agreements with governments, research and similar trusts in Canada and the United States. Gerald Durrell’s captive breeding method of saving endangered species has been a model for wildlife conservationists and zoos.

Durrell was also a famous author and a television presenter. His humorous accounts of his early life and travels across the globe, have formed the basis of 33 books which have been translated into 31 languages. His bestselling book “My family and other animals” about the time he spent on the island of Corfu was made into a television series. Earnings from his books helped him set up the Jersey zoo and finance his expeditions. His early expeditions filmed by the BBC Natural History Unit have been broadcast in several countries. He also hosted seven television series and made several appearances on other television programmes.

Durrell received many awards and recognition for his conservation efforts, including the Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters (1956), Fellow of the Institute of Biology – London (1974), and Order of the British Empire (1982). He died in 1995. Many young people and adults have been inspired to take up careers and work in natural history and conservation by his work—and many more have been engaged and entertained by his books.

Centrolene durrellorum (glass frog), Clarkeia durrelli (fossil brachiopod), Nactus serpeninsula durrelli (gecko), Ceylonthelphusa durrelli (freshwater crab), Benthophilus durrelli (tadpole gobi), Kotchevnik durrelli (moth) are some species that have been named after Gerald Durrell for his contribution to wildlife conservation.

“As long as algebra is taught in school, there will be prayer in school.”
– Cokie Roberts

Transition from arithmetic (that deals with numbers) to algebra (that deals with letters) is perhaps one of the three most traumatic experiences in maths classes for a typical child.

Why should it be so? How can we address this problem? Can we make the learning of algebra meaningful and enjoyable? Let us examine.

Pre-algebra learning consists predominantly of numbers and number operations. Whereas numbers are generalized form of quantities, algebraic variables represent generalization of numbers and this concept is not easy to grasp for most children and they need help. Algebra deals with patterns and unless children are exposed to and have developed the skill of recognizing patterns during the pre-algebra phase, they find algebra somewhat baffling.

The author works with Suvidya, an educational resource group, in Mysore. He can be reached at sngananath@gmail.com.

This is an article for subscribers only. To subscribe click here.

Recent mishaps at certain schools with parents blaming the school for them are unfortunate. Mobs beating up the principal and teachers only take these sordid reactions to the extreme. Can we hold the school responsible for everything that happens within the premises? To what extent is the school management responsible? This Catch 22 situation must force every educationist and school administrator to look into the roots of the problem.

Once a child enters school, the safety and well-being of the child become the school’s responsibility. But this is not possible without the complete cooperation of parents and the society. Schools are part of the society and therefore, cannot function independently. The class teacher who has autonomy in the class is the only person who can directly be in touch with the child, understand and empathize with him/her. But in the numerous corporate schools sprouting everywhere, the number of students per class is as many as 40 to 50. With a teacher’s working hours stretching to 28-32 hours every day, it is extremely difficult to reach each of the 40 children and take care of their psychological and emotional growth.

A teacher’s role too has changed today. From a care giver and someone who imparts knowledge, a teacher today is seen mainly as a ‘producer’ of first rank students. And not just the school, even the parents thrust the responsibility of academic success, defined by maximum marks, on the teacher. No longer are schools knowledge centers but ‘production houses’, where the teacher is accountable for the child’s marks.

This scenario puts pressure on the teacher to perform according to the demands of the school. The false sense of competition and success has made both the teacher and the student a victim. The marks-oriented approach forces the teacher to turn a blind eye to everything else. The child is pushed to achieve marks and failure means punishment. So heartless is the system that illness is considered as a method to escape the constant drill and pressure and so is unpardonable. The child is made to feel guilty for falling ill.

The teacher’s role is now monitored by economic factors. Schools, after all, cater to the needs and demands of society. Parents demand a child with excellent scores and the school tries to give them one. Branding the child and judging him/her is the ugly outcome of this system.

The school management, parents and teachers need to rethink and review this situation. We need to understand the primary goal of the school and strive to encourage and impart knowledge instead of manufacturing robots. The schedule and time of the teacher should be planned to accommodate the interaction with the child and understand his/her needs. A good teacher can inspire a child to achieve his best and not simply to score high marks.

The author is an English language teacher in Vijayawada. She can be reached at prasuna.balantrapu@gmail.com.