123Pune.com

When 13-year-olds Sujit and Akshay met their idol, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, on Sunday, they were desperate to ask him one question: ‘Why does the government want to snatch away our land for building an airport and factories, and would you help save it?’ But lack of communication skills in English prevented them from doing so.

The same question lingered in the minds of hundreds of other students of zilla parishad (ZP) schools in Rajgurunagar and nearby villages, about 50 km from Pune, who are well acquainted with the burning issues of the airport, MIDC and factories.

Though they are taught English from std I onwards, the subject is taught in Marathi by teachers who have done their diploma in education in Marathi. This hardly equips the students to communicate in the language.

Teachers of the ZP schools admit they that have not been able to train students to read and write in English. “When the state government started compulsory English from std I, nobody remembered that the teachers assigned to the task were themselves educated in Marathi-medium,” said one of the teachers.

Ironically, Kalam told the children, “You were born at the right time and you will succeed in life”. A message that went down well with the students was, “Set a goal, work hard and defeat failure to achieve the goal.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/Language_plays_spoilsport/articl...