Helping students develop a love for Kannada

On the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava, a look at the best way to tap into the cultural power of a language

Around six years ago, Manjula Rambabu, a dentist by profession, relocated from the United States to Bengaluru. Her son had to start learning Kannada as a language in a CBSE school. As Dr. Rambabu’s mother tongue was Telugu, she too began learning Kannada with her son. “Although my son had to learn two new languages, Hindi and Kannada, he was able to pick up Kannada more easily,” she said. With the steady support and encouragement of his teachers, Dr. Rambabu and her son grew to love the language as they found lessons, stories, and themes relevant to their daily lives.

In many ways, her experience with learning Kannada is different from that of many parents and children who say they are struggling with it.

The cultural power of a language can help bridge the gap between different communities. While most people believe that it is important to know the language of one’s environment, and that it’s best to initiate a child when young, execution remains a problem. Ways to integrate a language into the school curriculum is a long-debated issue, one that has no easy answers.