Rhyme and Reason

Recently, the Madhya Pradesh State Government decided to replace 'English nursery rhymes' with Hindi patriotic rhymes. Predictably, the English language media took up the cudgels, opposing, as is their wont, every action by any BJP Government, accusing the party of saffronising ( a word contributed to the English language by the secular Indian press) Education. The BBC made a seemingly balanced coverage talking to urban "academicians" and "educationists". The Times of India played the more-British-than-British card and called the move churlish and emphasised the "importance of English" and in summary called it regressive. (see link below)

This blog believes that the MP Govt. move that has come not a moment too early. Nursery rhymes are meant to,amongst under-5 year olds, encourage speech, vocabulary, creativity while entertainingly engage them in the process.

The "English nursery rhymes" can do no better than the ones in any other language. The great Indian fancy for English has lead to the adoption of the British rhymes.
Many educated people are upset that their favourites rhymes will not be taught anymore (says newspapers). Please,the rhymes touch an emotional chord as we ( yes, it does with me too) learnt it during our blissful childhood and about which all of us (with normal childhoods) are nostalgic. Any rhyme of any other language would do just as well.

Having said that, is it not logical to begin one's education in one's mother tongue as opposed to a foreign tongue, however much it might be globall used. The first words learnt by most children the world over are in their mother tongue, well, except for children of Indian yuppies who find it below thier dignity to converse with their children in the native.With due support to learning English (globalisation, "child's future", "computers" and other 'reasons') it is unfortunate when someone's best language is not their mother tongue ( as it, admittedly, is with this write and his generation (x?) of ppl- blame it on Macualay).Now, for a nation often divided does it not make more sense to learn patriotic jingles as kids and be nostalgic about them when one gets older.
Moreover, most English nursery rhymes are - disaster oriented. e.g. Jack broke his crown, Jill came tumbling; ..bow breaks,the cradle will fall; London bridge is falling down; Humpty dumpty had a great fall,...plucked her nose etc. and don't really have much value except for the anglo-saxon tune recall.

Secular press... Give us a break. There are several things that BJP governments get it wrong. Go after them. If you can't get yourself to commend them , ignore them.


Psst...1.. The British Kindergarten Association of Kindergarten teachers would gladly endorse the MP Govt.'s move if the could hear the accent and tone of the rhymes as taught and as recited at schools proclaimed as "English medium" schools.

Psst..2.. Glad that Hindi seems to have creative writers to churn out KG poems. In Tamil Nadu, translations of English rhymes are passed off, many a time, as Tamil. (Intellectual Property lawyers Alert !). But thats hardly a surprise, for a state which has thrived on the "dubbing" culture.(Junoon effect !)


For news articles which prompted this critique :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5079002.stm
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articlelist.asp?msid=584497758
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1665143.cms
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articlelist.asp