FEEDBACK
Reservation for Tamil Medium Students
TAMIL TRIBUNE, October 2006 (ID. 2006-10-f1)
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I am a student from Tamil medium. I know well that our present Tamil Nadu State Government is struggling to increase the use of Tamil language. I pray for their success.
I think that there is no reservation for Tamil medium students in professional courses like engineering and medicine. If there are reserved seats for Tamil medium students, then many students would prefer to study in Tamil medium. Nowadays, students from matriculation and other English medium schools are getting places in professional colleges in disproportionately larger numbers. I request you to consider my suggestion.
June 15, 2006
Tamil Tribune's Response
We agree with you a hundred percent. The way to get students to study in Tamil medium is to improve their chances of getting into professional colleges and jobs. The reason that parents rush to send their children to English medium schools is not their love for English nor their dislike for Tamil. They are good Tamil people. They look around and see that disproportionately large numbers of English medium students are getting into professional colleges and are preferred in some jobs. So they send their children to English medium schools.
Our recommendations to the Tamil Nadu State Government are as follows:
1. Reserve seats in professional colleges in proportion to the number of Tamil and English medium students coming out of schools. This is not discrimination. Statistically, if every thing were equal, this is what would happen naturally.
2. Improve the teaching of English in Tamil medium schools so that Tamil medium students can read and understand English books well. This is important. A good knowledge of English is essential in today's world (that does not mean that one need to study all subjects in English medium).
3. All English medium students applying for jobs in Tamil Nadu must pass Tamil examinations to assure that they could transact business with the public in Tamil. An engineer working in Tamil Nadu must be able to deal with people in Tamil. A doctor working in Tamil Nadu must be able to converse with patients in Tamil. An accountant or banker or clerk must be able to write letters and reports in Tamil. So there is nothing wrong in asking English medium students to pass a Tamil examination to test their skills. If they cannot pass such examinations, let them go elsewhere for work; it is they who chose to study in English medium schools.
If the Tamil Nadu State Government would implement these recommendations, Tamil will continue as a living, day-to-day transactions language in Tamilnadu. Tamil Nadu State Government may be willing and, in fact, eager to do that but the Indian Government and Indian laws may block it. Here are a few examples.
In 1997 Tamil Nadu government wanted to start Tamil medium as an option in engineering colleges (only those students who want to study in Tamil medium would be admitted; others can study in English medium). Much money was spent in writing books and training lecturers and professors. Everything was ready to go but the Indian Government appointed All India Council on Engineering (AICE) blocked it [Reference 1]. Indian government wants Hindi to flourish and other languages to languish.
Even after repeated please from Tamil Nadu, Indian government refuses to allow Tamil in the Chennai High Court although Hindi is allowed in some Hindi state high courts. Eventually Indian government would allow Tamil but they would delay it as long as possible so that Hindi has a head start ahead of other languages. Indian government wants Hindi to flourish and other languages to languish.
Several years ago when the Tamil Nadu government made Tamil a compulsory subject in all schools under its jurisdiction, courts ruled it unlawful under Indian laws. Then the Tamil Nadu government passed another order this year (2006) making Tamil compulsory in its schools. Supposedly this new order is lawful. Again a lawsuit is filed against it. Let us wait and see what the court does. While making Tamil compulsory within Tamil Nadu runs against certain Indian laws, there is no barrier to make Hindi a compulsory subject in all central government controlled schools in Tamil Nadu. That is legal but we have to pass order after order to circumvent Indian laws to make Tamil a compulsory subject in schools. This is the situation under Hindian dominated Indian government. Indian government wants Hindi to flourish and other languages to languish.
[SUMMARY: Authors argue for reservation for Tamil medium students in medical, engineering and other professional colleges.]
RELATED ARTICLE
1. Indian Government Blocks Tamil Development into the Twenty First Century (by Thanjai Nalankilli), TAMIL TRIBUNE, September 1999.
2. Archived articles from Tamil Tribune
FIS060912 2006-a1d
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