III : EXCERPTS FROM THE MINUTES OF DISSENT TO THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT ON EDUCATION.
Excerpts from Minutes of Dissent I. BY Shri R. K. Amin and Shri A. K. Chanda:
The common school system is ... desirable. But it should be developed through persuasion and improvement of standards in the common schools and not by resort to compulsion.
II. By Shri K. Anbazhagan:
It is a completely baseless premise that Hindi is a link language. The language policy on education should not be utilized as a back-door method to implement or to introduce the official language which is under question.
There is a genuine feeling among the people of. non-Hindi areas, that the official language policy requires reappraisal and unless all the regional languages, i.e. languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are given equal status as official languages, the language controversy will not be settled. The people of non-Hindi areas strongly feel that English is enough to serve as a link language between one State and another, the Centre and the States, and with the foreign countries.
On the teaching of languages for classes I to XI at the school stage, the formula adopted by the Government of Tamilnadu (Madras) State) is found to be a suitable one in the present contexts.
The Statement of the Committee on devising a common scientific and technical terminology ignores the basic structure of the Indian languages. The basic and root words of the Dravidian languages and those of the North-Indian languages differ so widely that a common root in one group may not satisfy or fit in the other group. As such, a common terminology of technical terms based upon North-Indian languages cannot be adopted in Tamil and other Dravidian languages.
The Minister for Home Affairs has stated that the UPSC exami- nations will be conducted in all the fourteen languages and their Introduction will be simultaneous.
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The same kind of principle should guide us in choosing the medium of instruction in institutions of all-India character and importance and until such an arrangement is accepted, the status quo, that is, English should continue as the medium in the all-India institutions.
III. By Shri A.E.T. Barrow:
In my position, this (the common or neighbourhood schools) is the very negation of democracy and a wholly regrettable assertion of totalitarianism, In every democratic society, the right of the parent to decide the kind of education his child will receive is sacrosanct.
The Common Schools system enforced by this totalitarian method can be a dangerous invasion of the cherished right of liberty of thought.
The recommendation will lead to their use as the exclusive media of education at the university stage. The report does not make provision specifically and categorically, for the use of a 'link medium' which is necessary not only for the maintenance of standards in higher education but, crucial for India's unity.
It is the duty of the Centre (Item 66 of List I of the Constitution) to determine and coordinate standards in higher education and this can only be achieved by the use of English, at present, as the link medium'. I am convinced also that the interchange of teachers and the migration of students from one university to another, win be impossible if universities constitute themselves into linguistic enclaves. I believe it is only a 'link medium' that can encourage a communion of minds and inspire national integration.
I am convinced that moderation and standardization between multiplicity of languages, disparate in their content and development, will seriously militate against the reliability and validity of such examinations. My fear is that one result of a multiplicity of media will be competition, perhaps unwittingly, in mark-giving between examiners in the different languages with the result that the quota- system will inevitably emerge. All semblance, therefore, of any maintenance of standards in these all-India services will disappear.
Hindi is, in fact, not the link language of education in India and is not likely to be accepted by the universities in non-Hindi areas. English is the de facto link language in higher education and will continue to be so, as it is a language of international importance and in India, the key to science and technology and therefore essential for higher academic studies and intellectual communica-
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tion. Hindi cannot even be regarded as a link language from the point of view of its use as a spoken language. The 1961 census shows that more than 11 million people have returned English as their second language, whereas barely 9 million people have Hindi as theirs.
IV. By Shri V. M. Chordia:
The recommendations do not give any importance to the Consti- tutional provisions that in 1965 Hindi has be-come the official language of the Union.
To ignore both, the Constitutional provisions and the realities in this matter, is illegal, inappropriate and impracticable. Without due recognition of these facts it would be impossible to lay down the correct national languages policy.
The need of teaching Hindi as a compulsory subject throughout the country will become all the more important after the switch-over to regional languages as media of instruction and administration. To put English on the same footing as Hindi would be wrong and will undermine not only the growth of Hindi but also. the growth of regional languages which are intimately connected with the growth of Hindi.
V. By Shri Digvijai Nath:
From the very elementary stages of education, all students must be imparted religious instruction in the sacred books of the Hindus, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Gita and other scriptures, so that when the children grow up as citizens, they may have a thorough knowledge of the background about the great past of this ancient land. It is here that Macaulay's work of denationalizing the people has to be undone and undone with a strong hand. Until this is done, no system of education, however scientific in Western sense, imparted in our schools and colleges, can make them first-rate citizens.
Sanskrit is the treasure-house of vast knowledge in every field of knowledge, including the sciences. The people of this country cannot become first-rate scientists until and unless they have a proper grounding in ancient Indian sciences in Sanskrit..... Sanskrit being the mother of all Indian languages, and of all Sciences, its study should be made compulsory for all students from the very beginning so that students... grasp the modern scientific discoveries and inventions, as they are merely the continuation of the knowledge about our sciences contained in Sanskrit.
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ERRATA
Page Para Line For Read
10 33 last end trend
11 36 6 from below facilites facilities
13 Prefix asterisk to foot note.
18 57 8 inculding including
21 69 4 dose does
21 69 12 individuals individual
28 86 9 qualification qualifications
28 86 11 technician, technicians
29 88 1 projects. So projects so
29 90 10 "Rosy ("Rosy
Rivetters" Rivetters")
30 94 2 such cons- consultants
ultants
32 100 7 emigrant emigrants
32 101 2 orgranisa- organisa-
32 101 5 prefernces preferences
35 111 2 verdue' overdue
38 123 11 unity to of unity of
Tables
Page S. No. For Read
46 7 9 7
46 7 7 9
47 16 16 61
47 16 - (Mechanical dips) 1
48 3 355 335
48 5 3 (1960-61 grads) 2
57 7 130 -
65 4 549 540
85 Prefix asterisk to foot-note.
45 2 56, 56 & 27 58. 156 & 27
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