At a time when parents are keen to send their children to English-medium schools, Chukki Nanjundaswamy, daughter of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha founder M.D. Nanjundaswamy, has enrolled her son in a Kannada-medium school. Her husband, Luca Montanari, who is of Italian origin, too is convinced of the need for primary schooling in mother tongue.
Ms. Nanjundaswamy and her husband work out of Chamarajanagar in organising farmers and nurturing native farming systems. Tene Cosmo, her son, is studying in class 6 at a Kannada-medium school in Chamarajanagar. “Putting my son in a Kannada-medium school was the natural choice for me as I strongly believe that you will get a deeper and real understanding only when you study in your mother tongue,” she said. “My father was a strong proponent of learning in the mother tongue. In fact, my brother and I studied in Kannada medium, as per his wishes. We are very proud of that.”
She pointed out that her husband too had studied in his mother tongue (Italian). “He was also keen that our son study in a Kannada-medium school,” she said.
Ms. Nanjundaswamy is happy with the impact the move has had on her son’s learning process. “He now speaks many languages, including Kannada, Italian, English, and Hindi,” she said, adding that he had never lagged behind on account of the medium of instruction. He is studying in a school run by noted poet G.S. Shivarudrappa’s son Jayadev, which focuses on life skills.
Trying to dispel the myth among parents that not studying in English-medium schools would be an hindrance to the child’s future, she said, “English is only a medium of learning. What is more important for the child’s future is his understanding and learning abilities.” She argued that the modern-day education system was more focused on creating a labour force rather than in the child’s personality development.
