Down South, PM Modi's Teachers' Day Speech May Get Stuck in Language Barrier

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address, expected to be in Hindi, is worrying teachers

NEW DELHI:  Technology or logistics will not be a barrier for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message to reach students on Teachers' Day. Language might. At least down south, where children are more conversant in English than Hindi.

A visit to three schools - one in Tamil Nadu and two in Kerala - was the acid test. 

The Prime Minister's address - expected to be in Hindi - is worrying the teachers, who would have to translate for the children, especially those in the primary section.

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At Thikodi MLP school in Thikodi, 45 km from Kozhikode, teacher V Pramod said they would record the programme and then translate it in English.

But even senior students did not appear too confident. 

At Payyoli, nearly 50 km from Kozhikode, most students of the government-sponsored higher secondary school could not help betraying a shade of doubt.

"We have studied Hindi till Class X. We find it difficult to talk in the language. We hope we will manage to understand," said Vasavi, a student of Class XI. A moment later, she added in a more confident tone, "We hear Narendra Modi on television. We can understand."

"We find it difficult to speak in Hindi, but in Kerala we study it, we can understand," added Vasavi.

Understanding Mr Modi's Hindi speech could be a bigger challenge for children in rural Tamil Nadu.

In the century-old Government Boys' Higher Secondary School at Bhavani, headmaster M Chandrasekaran summed it up: "Students in Tamil Nadu do not speak or understand Hindi. We request our honorable Prime Minister to speak in English also."