Essay on The Future of English in India Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.
1857 witnessed two great events, which greatly influenced the course of history in this country: the outbreak of the Great Revolt and the founding of universities at Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai. If the Great Revolt marked the end of one phase of the struggle for Independence, the birth of universities marked the beginning of another because those who came out of these universities, picked up the torch of freedom lit in 1857.
The birth of the three universities in 1857 marked the consolidation of Western education introduced at the beginning of the century. Raja Rammohan Roy who strongly advocated the introduction of English education dreamt of “India speaking English” and “India possibly independent.”
On 7th March, 1835, William Bentinck the governor-general announced the education policy: “The great object of the British Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India; aid all the funds appropriated for the purpose of education should employed on English education alone.”
It was in pursuance of this policy that A.O. Hume had opened hundreds of schools in Etawah District of the United Provinces. While Hume, like other ‘Englishmen, had fought Indians to put down the 1857 revolt, he was determined to give them education, which would one day empower them to rule themselves. Over the past few years, foreign universities and educational institutions have come to play an important role in the Indian education scene. And, Indian students are increasingly looking at these institutions, as being the one-stop destination for quality education. Moreover, foreign institutions too have been wooing these very students through education fairs, seminars and counselling sessions. It’s not only educational institutions from the US and the UK that make the Indian tour but those from France, Ireland and Australia too have entered the scene to attract Indian students in a big way.
The number of educational institutions from different countries targeting Indian students has grown manifold but the US still remains the favourite destination for Indian students. A total of 66,836 Indian students were studying in the US in 2001-02 up from 54,664 in 2000-01. Moreover, the interest among the US students for India has increased and this can be gauged from the fact, that India this year was the second-most preferred destination after Germany for US scholars applying for Fulbright fellowships to study, do research or teach overseas. Recent years have witnessed Indo-US cooperation in the education sector in a big way.
Not far behind is the UK, which has probably emerged as the second-most important educational destination after the US. The British High Commissioner to India Sir Rob Young remarked, “Education institutions in the UK have always been held in high esteem and this can be observed from 10,000 Indian students who are pursuing undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG)programmes there. The number of Indian students going to Cariada has gone up by 86 per cent from 1999 to November 2002. India’s detractors argue that While English is still an elitist language taught in certain schools, China is making it a national priority for people to learn English! The results, they say will certainly be a tilt towards China in the near future. And who knows? China may emerge as the country with the largest number of English speaking persons then! Ironically, though India has been the butt of most anti-outsourcing anger, it is not even the largest outsourcing destination for the US. Ireland is. It is true that offshore wages in India are going up thanks to higher salaries and fresh hiring brought about by the booming state of the Indian BPO industry. Over the years, India’s greatest attraction for outsourcing companies, its cost advantage, is bound to come down. Slowly wages in India will go up and that in the West will come down. But even then there is bound to be enough difference between the two extremes for the outsourcing balance to remain with India.
Thus the future of English is bright in India. It has acted as a boon to the Indian populace by which it is fast making its impact on global business scenario.
