Taking English out of India’s tech capital
The city of Bangalore is India's IT capital, but the state government there launched a linguistic crackdown this week that critics say could threaten that status. Miranda Kennedy reports.
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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: There’s a threat to Bangalore’s status as India’s IT capital. Miranda Kennedy reports.
MIRANDA KENNEDY: A 1994 law requiring kids to be educated in the local Kannada language has been widely ignored.
Now, the state government is getting tough. More than 100,000 students currently taught in English, will have to switch to schools that teach in the local language.
Almost 2,000 English language schools will be closed down, but many protest that English is the lingua franca of the information technology industry.
S. Sadagopan is the head of a technology university in Bangalore.
S. SADAGOPAN: Because Bangalore is known for job creation, known for technology. English language is an absolute necessity.
The last thing Bangalore needs, Sadagopan says, is a future scarcity of the English speakers so crucial to the city’s wellbeing.
In New Delhi, I’m Miranda Kennedy for Marketplace.