From: kseethar@cs.ulowell.edu (Krishnan Seetharaman)
Subject: Re: Tamil in Schools (TN, Delhi)
Organization: University of Massachusetts at Lowell Computer Science
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 14:19:06 GMT

In article <Bs5oMH.4Ew@ireq.hydro.qc.ca> srini@ireq-num.hydro.qc.ca (K.Srinivasan) writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.145343.25221@athena.mit.edu> krish@athena.mit.edu
>(Viswanathan Krishnan) writes:
>>Folks: I write this article as one of the last students to study 
>Furthur Mr. Krishnan gives employment goals as the main cause of this
>drop in interest to learn Tamil in Tamil Nadu.
>
>Long ago, in the Delhi Madrasi Education Association Higher Secondary
>school, the situation was different. The medium of instruction was
>English from class 5 and up. From classes 5 to 8, one language option
>was Sanskrit or Tamil. Practically everybody took Sanskrit, as it was
>easier to get 100%. In the science group starting class 9,
>there was no provision for learning Tamil. In the arts group, one
>could take a Modern Indian language (Tamil). 'Compulsary Hindi', required
>by law, was for both science and arts groups. The only optional subject
>in Science group was Sanskrit/Geography/Biology/Drawing.
>But the following policy of the school made an ocean of difference.
>
>For all the students, not studying Tamil as a subject, (class 5 and up),
>there was a 'non-compulsary Tamil', every week. The Tamil Nadu school
>texts were followed. But no exams, no marks. It was mostly the teacher
>narrating about Tamil literature (not covered in TN text book),
>and discussions on them. (the popular teacher's name R. Parthasarathy).
>That was where I heard all the 'kal thOnRi maN thOnRaak kaalam thottu'
>etc., much before the DMK people started using it in Madras beaches!!.
>
>This class was better attended than the 'compulsary' classes.
>It probably set the foundation for further interest and self study
>among all the students.
>
>If there are younger alumni from MEAHS School (alias Tamil EA HS School,
>Delhi), please post about the situation now a days.
>Please cross post in s.c.i and s.c.t.
>
>K. Srinivasan  srini@ireq-num.hydro.qc.ca

The situation when I "passed out" of DTEA in 1979 was:

Class 1-4	: All subjects in Tamil + English + Hindi (dont remember
		  when Hindi starts, I think class 2)

Class 5-8	: Medium of instruction is English + English + Tamil + 
		  Hindi + Sanskrit

Class 9-10	: Medium of instruction is English + English + 1 language
		  from a list of available languages (Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit
		  etc.)

Class 11-12	: Medium of instruction is English. I think the subjects 
		  depend on the Science/Commerce/Arts stream. Dont remember
		  studying languages other than English in classes 11-12.

I am quite fluent in writing/reading/speaking English, Hindi, Tamil, and
Sanskrit. The school was mainly for Tamilians, though they did admit students
from other states. Since the requirement of Tamil was sort of compulsory, the
policy adopted was that students who were not Tamilians would be allowed to
go to higher classes with minimal fuss (they were usually given pass marks),
but obviously they would not be able to make the top ranks. 

Wasnt R. Parthasarathy the tall distinguished looking teacher. We had a Tamil
teacher (a very good one), and I think that was his name.

The school is now called Delhi Tamil Education Association Senior Secondary
School (DTEA) and last counted there were branches in Lodi Road, Pusa Road,
Mandir Marg, RK Puram, Laxmibhai Nagar, Janakpuri. (maybe I missed one or
two). 

Regards
seethu 

-- 
Krishnan Seetharaman	
E-mail     : kseethar@cs.ulowell.edu		       Phone : 508-934-3834
Snail-mail : Department of Computer Science, UMass/Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854.
Kinkler's Second Law : "All the easy problems have been solved".
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil,alt.culture.tamil