Never said English should be given preference over Kannada: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Three days after being taken to task online for her tweet against those opposing Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s decision to introduce English mediums in schools, Biocon chairperso

BENGALURU:  Three days after being taken to task online for her tweet against those opposing Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s decision to introduce English mediums in schools, Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw on Wednesday said that she stood by her statements that English was very essential for the growth of students and that it would help them in their careers. 

In a detailed blog post dealing with the issue, Shaw, however, clarified that at no point of time did she say that English should be given preference over Kannada. The industrialist said “Kannada is my language too and I passionately believe students should be proficient in their mother tongue.” On Wednesday, Shaw said that the only way to prevent the shut down of Kannada medium schools was to impart education in English as well as Kannada. 

“Today, parents don’t want to send their kids to vernacular schools and that is leading to declining attendance and closure of such schools. The high school section of the oldest Kannada medium school in Bengaluru, Model School Education Society in Chamarajpet, which started in 1870, was forced to shut down in January 2018 because of insufficient student and teacher strength,” she said quoting a report by The New Indian Express. 

Shaw goes on to argue that English as a language was essential for business, social and diplomatic interactions and that if society and the government failed to respond effectively to the aspirations of parents and students by denying them the chance to learn English, they would be let down.   “By denying English education to an aspiring child in rural or urban Karnataka, let’s not stop them from fulfilling their dreams of making it to the top spot on the global stage,” she said.

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The New Indian Express
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