RAJ PANEKEN
The Minister of Education who dares reintroduce grammar on the exam-papers for SC/HSC will go down in history. The reintroduction of grammar on the exam-papers for SC/HSC will definitely come to the rescue of English language which is on the downward trend and to « redonner à la langue de Shakespeare ses lettres de noblesse ». I say reintroduce because grammar work figured prominently on the English questionnaires of SC/HSC in the years 50, 60, 70 where candidates were assessed grammatically. Then it was removed to make room for another item like report.
Each year many SC candidates fail to score a credit in English language. The most they can do is to snatch a mere pass out of the jaws of failure. Those who have scored a credit « pa krwar ki zot enn bann tenor ». Their English still leaves a lot to be desired. When they are put through their paces, you will be stunned to see the many weaknesses in their English in terms of grammar, tenses and vocabulary. Their only plus point is that they are a HSC on paper, but their command of English is still on the bottom rung.
Sometimes I am surprised when I take cognizance of the analysis and comments of certain pedagogues concerning the decline of the performance of the students in English language. Not a word is breathed about the importance of grammar to improve the standard of English. They talked about seeking the expert advice to redress the situation.
But I would like to tell these pedagogues that one of the underlying factors for the decline in English is the acute lack of grammar in the learning of English at school. Today the school population is suffering from an anaemic knowledge of grammar coupled with an acute lack of reading on their part. However, these students are not blameworthy if they are deficient in grammar because they have not been properly grounded in it. Today how many English teachers are genuinely knowledgeable about grammar errors and tenses? When they themselves are bankrupt of grammar, what will they transmit to their learners? They too, are the miserable victims of that vicious circle. When they were at school, they were not properly grounded in grammar, and today they are in front of a classroom teaching a subject which they were not properly taught. It is our actual system of methodology which is accountable for this shortcoming in the language learning. It needs to be reviewed to include a solid dose of grammar which is an indissociable part of the language learning.
The Replacement of ‘Report’ by
a Grammar Exercise
One of the reasons why scant attention is given to grammar is because it does not figure on the questionnaires of SC/HSC as in the past. Today teachers are telling their learners not to worry themselves about grammar since they will not get it for the examination. But they ought to know better that the students need grammar to express themselves correctly.
I would suggest that we remove « Report » which is a mini composition on Paper One on the SC questionnaire and replace it by a grammar item like grammar errors, tenses, analysis, parsing punctuation, word power, etc. Consequently the teacher in question will be compelled to stuff himself with grammar to be able to transmit that knowledge to his taught.
I am convinced that with the reintroduction of grammar on the exam papers for SC/HSC coupled with an intelligent and purposeful reading on the part of the school population, we can bail out English Language from a moribund situation to re-position ourselves in the Commonwealth Countries at language level in English.
The ball is now in the court of the Minister of Education. Let us see what he will do.
