Mysuru: As part of the 57th Foundation Day celebrations, Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Mysuru had organised the Sardar Panikkar Memorial Lecture by Jnanpith awardee and Kendra Sahitya Academy Chairman Dr. Chandrashekara Kambara at RIE premises here on Aug. 1.

Focussing on the medium of education, Dr. Kambara said “a child when taught in mother-tongue will evoke creativity among children which cannot be achieved through English. We are having a wrong notion that we cannot survive without English. This is nothing but addiction. All subjects including Science can be taught effectively in Kannada. Good teachers with quality training is essential today to teach students. The English influence left behind by the British is still lingering in society which should be erased. Parents have a deep-rooted misconception that with good English knowledge their children can survive anywhere in the world.”

 “Even today, mother-tongue is given preference over English as teaching medium in many developed countries including France and Japan. When a child learns his or her mother-tongue well, a visible spurt in the kid’s creativity ability and capacity to absorb knowledge can be witnessed. By embracing English, we are destroying the creativity. Our education system which is a by-product of Macaulay’s school of thought has power to systematically kill indigenous languages of India,” he added.

UoM Vice-Chancellor Prof. G. Hemantha Kumar was the Chairperson of the session. RIE Deans G.V. Gopal, C.G. Venkatesh Murthy, Principal Dr. Y. Sreekanth and others were present on the occasion.