Parents, elders cause of sidetracking children from mother tongue

Parents, elders cause of sidetracking children from mother tongue

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, June 21, 2014: Delivering the presidential address here at the ninth Udupi District Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, Veteran litterateur and theater artiste Prof Ramdas has said that the parents and elders at home are primarily responsible for the dwindling number of children in Kannada medium schools.

 

 

 

 

The poet said that following their high aspirations or even greed for quick money and status, the parents have diverted the growth of the children, making them mere puppets of westernised cultures. Parents have failed to guide their children in the right paths. They just want their kids to go abroad and earn abundant fast money. The children are increasingly becoming the victims of the television shows, that neither educate them nor provide them knowledge, except entertainment and superficial temporary glamour, he added.

Alleging that the changed question paper pattern has ruined the thinking ability among students, the poet said the decline in the quality of question papers, wherein most of the questions are of objective type, has damaged the intellectual development capacity among students.

He said hard work and dedication towards learning is diminishing unlike earlier. The emerging trends in  education has hindered reading habits and the interest to acquire knowledge in children. Expressing his concern over the declining quality and grammatical errors being committed in the use of languages, the poet added that the precise use of a language has vanished. There is high negligence towards language clarity and accuracy. The imperfections in evaluating the answer scripts has resulted in large number of students and their ignorance towards Kannada language. The student, who secures higher marks in Kannada, is not necessarily competent over the basics of grammar in the language. Marks should not be the measure to decide the grasp and skill of the students in language. He ridiculed that the grammatical errors are even visible in the newspapers and print.

Earlier inaugurating the Sammelan, Admaru mutt pontiff Sri Vishwapriyatheertha Swamiji opined that more opportunities should be created for the growth of  language. The growth of language will aid the growth of the people. At the same time, people should also encourage the growth of other languages, he added.

A total of 13 books were released on the occasion by Kannada Sahitya Parishath former president Harikrishna Punaroor. Of these, eight books have been published by Kannada Sahitya Parishath. A book stall was inaugurated by industrialist Gurme Suresh Shetty. An art camp comprising more than 75 art pieces depicting the tradition, culture, religious and folk aspects of the district was organised on the occasion. Besides, the pictures of the legendary litterateurs were also displayed in the exposition.