I knowing English

"I knowing english very good. I studying it from 5th standard on my school"

This is the type of English usually spoken by students who have come from Marathi and Semi-Marathi medium schools in my college. The pronunciations are also horrible and difficult to understand.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness especially among Indians about learning English. It is indeed extremely important to be able to speak and write English well. Under some circumstances, if an Indian has to move abroad and if he/she doesn't know English, then he/she is a complete handicap. The percentage of people knowing English is obviously low in rural areas but even in urban areas, the picture isn't clear yet. Speaking English is not seen as a necessary thing. Many schools are of the regional medium languague and English as a subject is started usually after 5th grade. The students of such schools have absolutely no contact with the English language either written or spoken expect for their English language textbook. To make matters worse, the English teachers of schools and colleges are themselves not good at the language and usually don't speak in English. Classes that teach you English within a few days have come up. But their aim is to earn amounts of profit which they do by charging exorbitant fees. People go to such classes, learn English but make absolutely no use of it in their daily life.

The educational system really needs a lot of improvement right from the pre-primary level. All schools (even regional medium schools) should be made compulsary to teach basic english from the pre-primary level and attempts should be made to make children converse in English. There are a number of excellent English daily newspapers like 'The Times of India' which can also be read to polish the English skills. People should be made aware of the importance of English.

When people make a great fuss over the merits and demerits of a language they overlook an important point that a language is not merely a means of communicating thoughts but also a way of getting civilized. The world is developing in the field of science and technology. Scientific inventions in Germany, France and Russia cannot reach India through any language other than English. India must keep up with the progress of the world in field of science. Therefore, English is inevitable for our country. 

Every nation must develop and encourage its own language. However, in India we have diversity in languages and it is not possible for many years ahead to have a common language like Hindi. Under such circumstances, we cannot wait for long, otherwise we will be left far behind. As such, till such time one language is developed, we must learn and teach English from the beginning itself. Some subject like Science, Mathematics and technology books must be taught in English only. This fact is being realized now by those who had opposed teaching in English few years ago. They now know that we have not been able to prosper like other countries of the world due to keeping ourselves away from English. It is this language which can uplift us not only within our own country but throughout the world. We will be no less than anybody in the world with knowledge of English.