We want LI to be one of the friendliest places on the internet, where lawyers and law students help each other with their career related queries and occasionally discuss other stuff that might affect their lives too. In other words:
1. Be kind, respectful and helpful to each other.
2. Be bona fide, truthful, genuine and curious.
3. Assume the best intention of others.
Therefore, in using the site, you must agree to do your best to uphold these community guidelines.
Note that what you find here is written and moderated by anonymous people on the internet.
Therefore everything you read here is very likely unverified, rumour, speculation and/or downright false.
In continuing to read anything here, you must therefore agree not to take anything you read here as factual and that you will exercise due caution, diligence and common sense before acting on any information you may come across here.
You also agree to report any inaccurate or malicious comments with the buttons. Moderators take action within 24 hours, as required and appropriate under law.
Our full terms and conditions apply too.
Do you solemnly agree to all of the above?
Even in the much praised (only on LI) government sector, this working class high horse goes only so far. Nobody is going to check, for example if you are an agent controller in India's spy service, the RAW, who runs a hypothetical Chinese double agent whom the RAW officer has an arrangement to meet in Geneva from time to time, if that agent controller can speak Tamil or Kannada. What will matter is that the RAW officer can speak the languages that matter to make sure she doesn't stick out in Switzerland, and can interact with that Chinese agent. In my book, the essential languages for such a project would be English and Manderin, the desirable ones would be French or German (because of Switzerland in the hypothetical). Ideally of course, my guy would be able to speak the essential languages and one desired language (though many other criteria would matter). If I saw Tamil, kannada or Hindi in addition to the essential languages I'd dismiss as "superfluous and unhelpful". If I saw them instead of the essentials, that person isn't suitable for my needs. Simples. That's how I'd think if I did that kind of work, which I don't, but you can't argue that there is common sense in it.
On the other hand, if you genuinely believe in what you've written then you're an incredibly large ▮▮▮.
2. Sadly, point 2 is displaying a very classist mentality. Can't agree with it.
3. Policy suggestion: Abolish this ICS/CBSE/state board concept. Create a qualification called the Republic of India Baccalaureate (ROIB), which all students studying at Indian state/public schools (as opposed to international or other types of private ones) will have to take. This qualification should be the qualification for the last two years of school - grades 11 and 12. This qualification should test the following subjects compulsorily - nobody who refuses to take up any of these subject types should be allowed to obtain the qualification:
- Language 1: English. Both language and literature. Advanced essay writing and literary analysis, IB-style.
- Language 2 (studied over both years of the ROIB): either an Indian or foreign language.
- Language 3 (studied over only the first year of the ROIB and having its board exam taken at the end of Grade 11, like AS Level subjects in the British A Levels system): If L2 was an Indian language, L3 must be foreign; if L2 was foreign, L3 must be Indian.
- Maths
- One science subject (Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc).
- One humanities (History, Geography, Economics, Philosophy etc).
- Optionally, up to two additional subjects from either the languages other than English, sciences or humanities category. The choice configurations you could have include: two other science subjects (for aspiring doctors or anyone else wanting it), a science and a humanities, two humanities... and so on.
- Build in something like a hybrid of another thing from both the AS and A Levels system: Not just the L3 language, but up to two other subjects (excluding English Language and Literature, Maths and language L2) can be tested and finished off in 11th grade itself. Think of this as ROIB's equivalent of 'AS Level subjects' or 'Standard Level vs. Higher Level' subjects in IB.
- Knowing English + French/Spanish/German + Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Arabic gives better employment prospects than knowing English + Hindi + Tamil/Telugu/Bengali etc.
- People should only be able to speak a smattering of Hindi or Tamil or whatever: not read or write it. And just a basic vocabulary of 100 words: enough to speak with servants, drivers and delivery boys. Because we are in an era when everyone speaks with each other in English.
https://www.ndtv.com/education/cbse-makes-three-languages-mandatory-for-class-9-and-10-from-july-01-11503874