In Punjab, A for seb, B for munda, C for billy...

In Punjab, A for seb, B for munda, C for billy...
BAJINDER PAL SINGH

CHANDIGARH, DECEMBER 12: A for seb (apple), B for munda (boy), C for billi (cat), D for kutta, E for English being taught in Punjab's primary schools. A year after English was made compulsory in state government schools, a generation of students is learning the language -- via Punjabi. Stumbling and fumbling, with little to fall back on except their enthusiasm.

By any standards, the results are poor. So the first batch of students, now in Class II, cannot pronounce the word cat nor can they spell it. But show them the alphabet and they smile: ``C, C for billi.''

The government has done little beyond announcing the scheme. No new teachers have been appointed, there are teachers who can't sign their names in English and have been told to teach the language. Some know the alphabet but have a trying time reading even the nursery rhymes. Except for the primer published by the Punjab School Education Board, there are no educational aids.

So many teachers have come up withtheir own ingenious ways. The result, as Mohinder Kaur, a teacher at Ropar's Khanpur village says, ``is a khhichdi of English and Punjabi.'' For example, instead of teaching the kids how to spell a word or pronounce it, many teachers write it out in Gurmukhi and ask the students to learn itby rote. So students can visually identify what A or B stands for but cannot make the connection between the word in English and what it means. Not many are complaining, though.

At Bhagomajra in Ropar, charts showing the English alphabet hang over the blackboard. These charts were bought with money collected from the students. At Kotla village in Ludhiana, a school has painted all the letters of the alphabet and numbersfrom 1 to 100on the school's wall.

At Manonagar, near Samrala, meet Tarlochan Singh. Ask for the school headmaster and he says, ``Incharge, teacher, headmaster, peon; it's me, all rolled into one.'' Tarlochan is the only employee at his school and teaches all five classes, all at the same time! How aboutEnglish?

``I have introduced it,'' he says, you can make out the sneer. Students know how to say Good Morning, Sir. This is apparently enough to pass the test if and when the inspector comes checking.

Some teachers admit they can't do much so they have lowered the bar. In other words, as long as the kids know a few common words, it's all right. Says Surjit Singh, a primary school teacher in Ludhiana: ``The kids say `Daddy' and `Mummy' instead of Bapu and Bebe.'' Parents, especially those who aren't educated, are thrilled when their kids address them in English. Or when the teacher asks them to point to the chair, and not the kursi.

At Khanpur village in Ropar, Simran is a bright student. Proud of her English book, she reads with a certain amount of confidence, ``This is the letter I,'' she says but cannot say the corresponding word: inkpot. No problem. She uses the Punjabi, dawaat. Though in Class II, she is now learning to write the alphabet, something which she should have done a year ago.

Teachersblame parents for lack of ``genuine interest'' in English. ``The poorer category of students get the prescribed books free of cost but others do not simply buy the book from the market,'' is a common complaint. At Gill village, for instance, teachers said they shelled out the money to help students buy these books.

However, parents say that they share their kids' enthusiasm but aren't quite sure of what this all means. Or of what use it will be. ``During the harvesting season, all the adults in my family are working and it's the children who stay at home and do the household work,'' says Dayal Singh of Ranian village in Ludhiana. Result: For almost a month, school goes out of the window. And when it's time to come back, many kids have forgotten the couple of English words they once ``learnt.'' The silver lining is that both kids and parents are excited with the new language, the new alphabet, now they are all waiting for someone to do the right thing.