Linguistically proud dravidian governments which have ruled the south-eastern seaboard state of Tamil Nadu (pop. 72 million) since the mid-1960s, after the disastrous attempt of the then almighty Congress party to impose “Hindi imperialism” on the southern states proved a dismal failure, have continued since then to insist on Tamil being the compulsory first language, i.e, medium of instruction, in the state’s 45,614 government and aided schools and 10,934 private unaided matriculation schools (unique to Tamil Nadu) affiliated with the Tamil Nadu State Board of Secondary Education (TNSBSE). However over the past few years, the state government has conceded the public demand for English medium, and separate ‘sections’ offering English as the first language have been introduced in government schools. On November 12, the Madras high court passed interim orders on a PIL (public interest litigation) filed by M. Appavu, a former legislator of the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. The court order directed the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government to take a decision on introducing spoken English classes in all Tamil-medium government schools in the state. The court also impleaded the directorate of the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), Chennai as respondents in the case. This petition has greatly surprised the state’s judiciary, educationists and intelligentsia as Appavu is a prominent member of the DMK, a pioneer in advocating Tamil as the medium of instruction in all government schools. In 2006, the DMK government legislated the Tamil Nadu Tamil Learning Act (TNTLA), 2006 which made Tamil a compulsory first or second language in all TNSBSE-affiliated government and private schools. Schools were asked to introduce Tamil mandatorily for all class I students in 2006 and scale it up to all class X children by 2015-16. Implementation of the TNTLA was reiterated by the AIADMK government led by chief minister Jayalalithaa before she passed away in December 2016. However, despite the linguistic ardour of the DMK and AIADMK inspired by memories of their anti-Hindi agitations of the 1960s, and reignited time and again by the propagation of Hindi and Sanskrit by the BJP-led NDA government voted to power in Delhi in May 2014, there is emerging statewide acknowledgement that English language learning is imperative in the contemporary globalised world. Moreover, since rising aspiration for English-medium education is precipitating a continuous flight from government schools, the late Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government introduced English-medium ‘sections’ in a few selected state government and Chennai municipal corporation schools in 2012-2013. This initiative proved to be popular. In 2017-18, 622,006 children were enrolled in English-medium sections of 12,738 government schools. On July 20 this year, the state government announced its intent to introduce optional English-medium sections in all government-aided schools. However, educationists in the state are sceptical about the success of this belated initiative. According to them, English is merely being taught as a subject rather than a language of communication. “Proficiency in English language is possible only if students develop listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. In our…
