‘Denial of Access to Hindi Language has Created Problems while Travelling in North India’: Philanthropist Aishwarya Rao

While Aishwarya Rao, a philanthropist working in the education sector, feels comfortable in commuting in the southern part of India, she admits that travelling to the northern side, sometimes, creates linguistic hurdles where the majority of the citizens have a mutual understanding of Hindi as a common language. “This suggests the importance of including a language which might be accepted by many in our own country and just has the potential to make the commuting better,” she says. 

Rao recently appeared on the '40 under 40' list of BW Education for her contribution to the education sector of Coimbatore. Being the current custodian of what was started by her family, as The Vivekalaya Group of Institutions, she, as director, is working towards making the school ready with the students who just do not learn the syllabus but also the life lessons and also focuses on their mental health.       

Talking to Local Samosa, on the sidelines of the current policy discourse about including a third language, Hindi in her state’s education – a conversation accelerated by the Chief Minister M K Stalin – Rao explains how it is more about accepting the diversity and including what is deemed necessary.   

Answering what role language should play in shaping education in a multilingual nation like India, she cites her example. “I grew up in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, and Hindi was not introduced to us. So, has this denial of access to a language bettered me? That it benefit me in travelling in my own country? Certainly not. It has made me feel more of an outsider than a part of this. English is also not accepted everywhere which creates a problem.”

Regional vs National 

There is a lot going on in the education sector in Western and Southern India and the prime focus is on the language as the medium of instruction. Released in 2020, the National Education Policy (NEP), emphasises the three-language formula and paves the way for flexibility in opting for the language selection. 

Having converted one of her schools from a state board to the CBSCE and working on a curriculum that “delivers the Cambridge curriculum, but also Indianises to impart the knowledge of culture”, Rao, the Managing Trustee of the PremAnand Foundation is of the view that what benefits is that the national curriculum can reach every Indian in every state in a language that they are comfortable with. “It is taking the national curriculum to every individual in this country in a capacity that they can comprehend effectively, understand, and assimilate information,” she affirms. 

Working with schools from all backgrounds, Rao also believes that education in the regional language or the mother tongue is beneficial for students whose families are not educated. “The students go back to their homes and initiate the conversations with the family about what they are learning; which fosters an environment for exchanging ideas. 

Further, she shares the differences between studying a language versus a language as a medium of instruction. “Languages should be taught not just for practical communication, but as academic subjects that foster cultural understanding where in studying a language does not necessarily mean you must speak it daily—it suggests that one gets an understanding of its literature and the people associated with it.”

Rao adds that if students in the south can choose a foreign language like French and German, they must also have the option of choosing a language that the majority of people understand in their own country in one part. “Why not have a language that's going to benefit you in being in this country?” she says. 

Having said that, Rao finds it to be challenging to impose a language in such a situation of an urban space that has multicultural environments.  “We have people from all over India living in Tamil Nadu. So, if we execute the policy of teaching in someone’s mother tongue, it might not necessarily be the same for them she explains adding that a lot of influx of students come from Kerala in her school.  

Hence, language subjects —especially third-language options— should not be made mandatory, she argues. “If a student further moves to another state, where the previous language is not in use, their marks should not determine whether they move to the next grade and affect a student’s overall academic performance,” she adds. 

In the world of AI

While technology aids in understanding the language for students with the introduction of AI tools, it is yet another hanging sword in the education sector, observes Rao. While previously students might just copy and paste from the internet, with the inception of tools like ChatGPT, one can narrate, Rao says. “Today, you can narrate with your personality, with your ideas,” she states adding that it is a sad state of affairs.

“Post 2024 is the generation that is already equipped with AI, and hence, it is a deal to help them understand how it is not beneficial for their good,” she laments. The only way out, according to her, is to make the students aware that they will have to face the “real world” where the actual mental capacity will be measured and hence, a nuanced understanding of the subject will be required.