REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY CABE OF BASIC ENGLISH (1948)

 REPORT OF THE BASIC ENGLISH
 COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL
 ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION IN
 INDIA.

1946

1. At their Tenth Meeting held at Baroda in January 1944, the Central Advisory Board of Education as a result of a discussion on the question of Basic English in relation to the Indian Educational system authorised the Educational Adviser to the Government of India to appoint a Committee to report on the matter, as and when he considered it necessary.

2. In view of the interest taken in Basic English in England and America and the fact that the Inter-Departmental Committee on Basic English in the United Kingdom are awaiting a report on the position of Basic English in India, the Educational Adviser to the Government of India set up the following committee to investigate this subject, with particular reference to the possible uses of Basic English in regard to plans for Educational development in this country :-

(a) A. K. Chanda, Esq., M. A., I. E. S., D. P. I., Bengal.

(b) Professor Amaranatha Jha, M. A., F. R. S. L., Vice-Chancellor Allahabad University.

(d) A. S. Khan, Esq., C. I. E., M. Sc., I. E. S., D. P. I., Bihar Patna.

(e) K. G. Saiyidain Esq., M. Ed. (Leeds), Educational Adviser Rampur State, Rampur.

(f) Sir John Sargent, Educational Adviser to the Government of India.

(g) Dr. S. R. U. Savoor, M. A., D. Sc., I. E. S., D. P. I., Madras.

(h) Prof. N. K. Siddhanta, M. A. (Cantab.), Lucknow University.

(i) Dr. D. M. Sen, M. A., Ph. D., Deputy Educational Adviser to the Government of India.

(j) Mrs. P. Johari, M. A., L. T., T. D. (Lond.), Education Officer, Government of India.

3. The Educational Adviser to the Government of India appointed Professor Amaranatha Jha as Chairman of the Committee.

4. At the instance of the Chairman of the Committee, the Educa- tional Adviser to the Government of India invited the following additional member to serve on the Committee :-

Professor Diwan Chand Sharma, Chairman, English Committee Punjab University, Lahore.

5. The Committee met at Simla on the 20th and 21st of May, 1946. The following members were present :-

Professor Amaranatha Jha. (Chairman).

Professor M. S. Doraiswamy.

A. K. Chanda, Esq.

A. S. Khan. Esq.

K. G. Saiyidain, Esq.

Sir John Sargent.

Dr. D. M. Sen.

Prof. N. K. Siddhanta.

Prof. Diwan Chand Sharma.

Mrs. P. Johari (Secretary).

The following member was unable to attend :-

Dr. S. R. U. Savoor.

6. The Agenda which the Committee considered is set out in Annexure A.

The following additional papers were circulated to the members :-

(1) A note on Basic English by Professor Amaranatha Jha, M. A. F. R. S. L., Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University. (Annexure B-i).

(2) A note on Basic English by the Director of Public Instruction, Madras (Annexure B-ii).

(3) Report on the working of Basic English in St. Joseph's High School, Chingleput, Madras Presidency. (Annexure B-iii).

(4) Report on the working of Basic English in the Ganapathy High School, Mangalore (Annexure B-iv).

(5) A note on experiments carried out in Basic English in there Hyderabad State (Annexure B-v).

(6) Extracts from a note on Basic English by the Educational Adviser to the Government of India, prepared for the Secretary of State for India (Annexure B-vi).

(7) Extracts from " A critical examination of Basic English" issued by the Department of Educational Research of the University of Toronto (Annexure B-vii Not printed).

(8) A note on experiments in Basic English carried out in the major Provinces and States in India (Annexure B- viii).

The following papers were laid on the table :-

(1) Confidential Report on First Year's work of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Basic English in the United Kingdom.

(2) A critical examination of Basic English-Bulletin No.2 of the Department of Educational Research, Ontario College of Education, University of Toronto, by M. P. West E. Swenson and others.

(3) A confidential note containing the views of His Majesty's Minister at Kabul.

(4) A confidential note containing the views of His Majesty's Minister at Teheran.

7. The Chairman initiated the Committee's deliberations by requesting the Educational Adviser to the Government of India to give all account of the genesis of the Basic English Committee. The latter while narrating the facts (paragraphs 1 and 2) that led to the formation of this Committee informed the members that His Majesty's Government were desirous to investigate the possibility of introducing Basic English in India. The Chairman further informed the members that the Educational Adviser to the Government of India was present by invitation, at the first meeting of the Inter-Departmental Committee and Lad made a statement on the position of Basic English in India, where already some experiments to promote its use had been made. The Educational Adviser had agreed to take up the general question of Basic English in India; and the Inter-Departmental Committee were awaiting his report.

8. The Chairman then read out the following extract from a letter of the Educational Adviser on the subject :-

" I realise that there has not been much enthusiasm for Basic, English hitherto in India and I am not myself convinced that it is of very great value for those who have the time and ability to learn ordinary English properly. It is, however, possible that if English is to be taught, in our middle schools or to older people who will not have time to master the ordinary language, and Provincial representatives at file meeting of the Central Advisory Board had argued strongly in favour of some English being taught at these stages the Basic system may have a certain utility" The Chairman expressed agreement with this view and invited the Committee to consider in the light of this the advisability of introducing Basic English in Senior Basic (Middle) Schools which in the new Educational system proposed for the country will be the finishing schools for the great majority of the population.

9. To begin with, the outcome of experiments in Basic English already carried out in the major Provinces and States ill India was discussed. It was observed that with the exception of Orissa and Madras the experiment had proved a failure in the majority of eases, and therefore had to be abandoned. Some of the main difficulties in the way had been the expense involved, the problem of seething teachers efficiently trained in Basic English, the problem of switching over from Basic to normal English and the fact their text- books in Basic English were more expensive. The Committee also noted that the maximum time of three years given to any one experiment was insufficient to enable any decisive conclusion being arrived at as to the worth of Basic English.

The question was raised as to whether it would not be useful to work out a simplification of the English language, other than the Basic, which would more suit Indian conditions and needs. In the Punjab some work. had been done towards evolving a limited vocabulary- other than the Basic vocabulary-for use upto the middle stage of education. It was argued, however, that from the international viewpoint the adoption of Basic English would be more useful, since it would afford a broad basis for inter-communication between countries at least in the restricted sphere of trade, etc., on condition of course that Basic English came, to be internationally accepted.

10. In the opinion of some members, Basic English was not really much of a simplification, the limitation of vocabulary when confronted with the very limited number of verbs which the Basic system allowed, only led to a more involved grammar and syntax which students found difficult to master. In fact, it was pointed out, long years of experience of teaching English in this country showed that it was not the large vocabulary of normal English that was the real problem ; but pronunciation, and, even more so, the grammatical structure of the language which proved a stumbling block. The peculiar sentence structure which the cutting down of verbs in the Basic system involved made this particular problem even more difficult of solution. Moreover, from the point of view of children themselves, particularly in the age group 11 to 14 which would be the normal at the Senior Basic (Middle) stage., the involved sentence structure which a limited vocabulary and a more limited verbal system necessitated, and which in its turn therefore. made a greater demand on the rational and logical powers of the pupils, would be unsuited for the mental level of the age-group under consideration.

11. If, however, the claim of the protagonists of the Basic system. that two years is sufficient for gaining mastery over the language is correct, it, would be worthwhile to give it a trial in the 3 years of Senior Basic (Middle) Schools where it hall been decided to allow English as and optional subject for those who were keen on offering it. Another argument in favour of trying out Basic English in this type of school is that the main objective of pupils offering English in Senior Basic (Middle), Schools would be purely utilitarian, rather than cultural or academic. A reasonable command over the language rather than appreciation of its literature would be the motive of pupils in these schools.

12. In view, further of the time taken to acquire a reasonable mastery of Basic English, which is claimed to be two years as against the accepted six for normal English, and the possibility of Basic English being more widely adopted in England and America and other countries of the world, the Committee were of opinion that it would be advisable to carry out a controlled experiment under more or less identical conditions, as between Basic and Standard English, and watch for results before taking any final decision. In order to give the experiment a fair chance, it was further decided that it should be tried for 6 years so that it would be possible to watch two generations of pupils in the Senior.

Basic (Middle) Schools before drawing conclusions. After detailed discussion the Committee came to the following conclusions :-

(1) That for a period of 6 years in the first instance, Basic English should be taught in some Senior Basic (Middle) Schools. and Standard English in others ; so far as practicable under identical conditions and by equally competent and trained teachers.

(2) At the end of this period of six years the position should be reviewed with the object of determining whether Basic English is quicker and easier to acquire, and if so whether it gives the pupils the requisite ability to use English for purposes of everyday life.

(3) Simultaneously, an endeavour should be made to examine and work out various plans and schemes for improving and simplifying the teaching of English at this stage.

(4) It would be necessary to ensure that the price of books in Basic English approximates to that of other books of the same standard.

(5) It would be necessary to ensure that Basic Text- books used in India will suit Indian conditions.

13. The Committee next turned their attention to a consideration of the value of Basic English for those who wish to proceed to some form of higher education after the middle stage.

As a preliminary to this issue, the Committee considered it necessary to determine the objective of teaching English at the post- middle or Secondary stage. They were of opinion that three things should be expected from students of English in Secondary or High Schools :-

(a) Comprehension of fairly complicated ideas.

(b) Expression of fairly complicated ideas.

Their final view was that in order to achieve this object only standard English should be taught in Secondary schools.

14. It was a pointed out that the supporters of Basic English do not claim that Basic will lead to Standard English, but to what they call " wider " English. The question, therefore, of transition from Basic to Standard English will need very careful examination and investigation. It was suggested, and the Committee accepted the view, that in the 3rd or final year of the Senior Basic (Middle) Schools and in the 4th or 1st year of High schools, the English course should be approximated so as to, ease the transition from Basic to normal English for those who are to be transferred to High Schools from the Senior Basic (Middle) Schools, at least so long as the experiment mentioned in paragraph 12 (a) lasts, and if the conclusions are favourable. This investigation should, however be made quite independently of the experiment and without causing any interference to it.

15. In the light of the above, it was further decided that Basic English would not prove useful as a method for the teaching of Standard English to beginners. Additional arguments put forward in the course of the discussion against the adoption of Basic English as a method for the teaching of Standard English to beginners were :-

(a) Basic English involves a strictly intellectual selection of words, and is, therefore, too abstract for children.

(b) The limitation of vocabulary which results in cutting down the abjectives and description words makes the vocabulary bleak and lacking in imaginative content, and therefore unsuited for use by young children.

(e) Due to reduction of verbs to a minimum, construction of sentences and grammatical structure in Basic English become very different from that of standrad English. This has to be to a very great extent unlearnt before normal English construction can be mastered.

(d) Restriction of vocabulary and involved grammatical structure necessitates abstract thinking which children are not capable of.

16. In regard to the place of Basic English in Adult education, it was felt that it is necessary to keep in mind the particular type of adult education which has to be catered for; whether it is mere literacy, or adult education proper in the sense of further Continuation Education. The motive in the one case is utilitarian; in the other, largely cultural. For the latter, the Committee felt, Basic English would not be of much use. For those adults, however, who possess a knowledge of their mother tongue, but who wish to acquire a working knowledge of English for mainly utilitarian purposes, Basic English is likely to prove more useful then Standard English, particularly since it can be more quickly acquired.

The Committee finally decided that provision should be made for the teaching of both Standard and Basic English-for such adults as desire to have a knowledge of English-Standard for those who desire it for cultural purposes and Basic for those who have limited time at their disposal and who wish to acquire a knowledge of English for strictly utilitarian purposes.

17. The Committee proceeded to assess the claim of Basic English as an international auxiliary and administrative language. Relevant extracts read out by the Chairman from the Report of the Inter-Depart- mental Committee on Basic English, 1945, brought out the following :-

" From replies recieved from His Majesty's Representatives abroad, on the question of the best way of giving effect to the encouragement of the spread of Basic English as an international auxiliary language, It appears that on the whole His Majesty's Representatives anticipate that it would be difficult to introduce Basic English as an international auxiliary language in countries where normal English is widely spoken...... " Of replies received from 38 countries, 12 reported favourably on the

prospects of certain activities connected with Basic English, while 11 were definitely unfavourable. Most of the remaining reports maintained a neutral attitude, awaiting future developments............".

18. The Committee felt that at the present stage they were not in a position to offer any decisive opinion on this question of Basic English as an inter-national auxiliary. They could however, with more certainty say that as an international administrative language, Basic English would not be suitable. They considered that for contacts on a high level, either diplomatic or cultural, Basic English would be unsuited at International gatherings. For this, in the opinion of some members, Standard English, for all practical purposes, is already used as an international medium and therefore the need for Basic English did not arise. The latter may be of value for developing contacts to a limited extent and up to a restricted level between common people particularly in the sphere of trade and business.

19. The general opinion was that until Basic English has won it wider recognition as an international auxiliary, this Committee would riot recommend any action being taken in this direction. If it is modified and if the world at large accepts it, their would be the time to consider its value as an international auxiliary with reference to Indian conditions and requirements.

20. Finally, the Committee considered the suitability of Basic English to meet scientific and technical requirements. It was noted that advocates of Basic English claim that with the addition of 150 words for science to the normal 850 of which the Basic English vocabulary is composed, it can provide a means whereby " any scientific congress or periodical can achieve internationalism." The total " 1000 " words vocabulary is " equivalent to approximately 10,000 words in any other simplification hitherto attempted. It was suggested that in the absence of sufficient data on the subject the Committee was not in a position to say whether Basic English would serve a useful purpose in the scientific and technical Sphere. Some members felt that advice from Scientific and technical experts might be obtained in this connection.

REPORT OF THE BASIC ENGLISH COMMITTEE OF THE CENTRAL ADVISORY BOARD OF EDUCATION IN INDIA.