From: sp2@cec1.wustl.edu (Sundara Pandian)
Subject: A boy's head was shaved for speaking Malayalam in school
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 16:42:39 GMT

    A boy's head was shaved....
   -----------------------------
       I found this shocking news in
 the recent issue of "India Abroad",
 a newspaper published in US.
      Currently, there is a discussion
 going on in `soc.culture.tamil' on
 "Fourth Tamil" [ scientific tamil ]
 proposed by Sankarapandi. Sankarapandi
 stresses the importance and benefits
 of studying science and technology in
 one's mother tongue instead of English
 as is happening now in T.N., Kerala
 and other states. S.C.T. is considering
 the pros and cons of Scientific Tamil.
     Coming back to the incident noted 
 in the subject of this article, a young
 Muslim boy was punished in an English
 Medium school for the `crime' of talking
 with his neighbour in Malayalam ( his
 mother tongue ). The punishment the boy
 earned was that his head was shaved.
 The boy told what happened to his
 grandfather and this news hit all the
 local newspapers. The headmaster of the
 school did not refuse that the boy was
 punished, but he rather pointed out that
 it is mentioned in the school rules that
 Malayalam is not allowed inside the
 campus and that all the parents are well-
 informed of that rule before putting their
 kids into school for their education. 
    Now, prominent Malayalam writers in
 Kerala are protesting against such rules 
 and they are recommending the parents to
 enroll their kids in Malayalam schools.
 I remember reading that the Kerala Govt.
 is also criticizing parents for enrolling
 their kids in such private schools banning
 Malayalam in the school premises.
    It is not just Kerala with private   
schools banning students to speak in their
mother tongue in the school premises. 
Tamilnadu also has such schools in Madras
and other major cities. My home-city Madurai
has one such school named Vikasa. Once I
met the Tamil instructor in that school. He
spoke English very well, but we talked only
in Tamil after introduction. He himself
speaks in English with students when they  
meet him other than class hours. Recently,
I gave my Tamil kriti in Thodi Raga to my
relative for his comments and warned him 
not to alter any word in it. He told me that
his Tamil is not so good to do corrections
and he told me about the school he studied
in Madras, where Tamil was not allowed in
the school premises ( other than class        
hours ). 
    I am surprised at why one's mother       
tongue is a taboo in these private schools.
I can't help agreeing with Sankarapandi that
such schools "alienate" students from their
society. Such schools are not many in number
in Tamilnadu, but they may be more in number
in Kerala ( 100 % literacy ? ). 
    Now, students are in a dilemma. Their
parents want to put them in good English 
medium schools for getting good jobs or
crossing their state to continue their studies. 
But such schools seem to "alienate" them from
their society .  
    I hold the view that language does not
matter for one to study science/technolgy.
But, unfortunately, in some ( or more ? )
English medium schools in India, one'e mother
tongue is placed as a taboo in school premises.
Such schools eliminate the freedom that the
students enjoy to talk with their friends thru
their mother tongue and it is my strong view
that the associated state governments should
try their best to eliminate such rules and
harsh punishments like shaving head and this
can be achieved only with the cooperation of
students and their parents.
                                   - S.Pandian.
                          [ sp2@cec1.WUSTL.edu ]
--------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala