Developing English Skills among Marginalised Students through Dalit Literature

There is no denying the fact that English language has become all the more important in one’s professional and social life in the 21st century. English has become a language of opportunity and dignity. It is through a good command over English that a person can achieve excellence in her or his professional and personal life. Dalit students are no exception to it. English plays a very crucial role in the education of the Dalit. Further, it is through English that they can afford to lead a dignified life besides availing themselves of the job opportunities available in the job market. Again, it is by means of English education that they can keep pace with their urban counterparts. Therefore, English education is the key to adopting the modernist approach suitable to the globalised India. “Ambedkar compared English to the milk of the lioness, and said those who drink it become stronger,” said Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit columnist, researcher and chief promoter of the pro-English campaign. “If your child learns English, it is as if he or she has inherited 100 acres of land.” D Shyam Babu, a Dalit scholar, agrees: “English is no longer just a language – it’s a skill. Without it you remain an unskilled labourer.”

This idea resonates today especially due to the association of English with India’s technology boom, which is responsible for creating a new middle-class of software programmers. However, it is as tough now for a poor Dalit to learn English, or to get educated in any language, as it was for Ambedkar a century ago. The British had introduced a state-run, egalitarian system of elementary education, with the regional language as the medium of instruction and English as a subject from the sixth standard onward. Conversely, the system came to be monopolised by the privileged social groups. It was only thanks to the English-medium schools run by Christian missionaries and the British Army that ‘outcastes’ such as Ambedkar could get a proper education. The recent decision of the central government to introduce English teaching from class one in all government schools will enable all the section of society, especially the marginalized social groups, to enter into a new phase of English education in the country.

However, teaching of English in most of the government schools and colleges in India is deplorable. The traditional way of teaching like teacher-centered method fails miserably in developing practical English language skills among the rural students. Dalit students are victim to such condition. They are severely deprived of platforms and opportunities to learn English language skills. Bahujan students (SC/ST/OBC) are undeniably talented, and they have stupendous potentials for achieving academic excellence provided that they are given opportunities.

However, practical English language skills can be developed among dalit students by making use of dalit literature to the extent possible. Dalit literature is likely to serve dual purposes: developing language skills and initiating the Bahujan students into Bahujan ideologies by developing critical and higher thinking skills. Dalit literature also can be used to develop Socratic questioning. The Socratic style of questioning encourages critical thinking. According to Richard Paul and Linda Elder (2007) argues that critical thinking is a “systematic method of disciplined questioning that can be used to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we don’t know, and to follow out logical implications of thought.” Socratic questioning is most frequently employed in the form of scheduled discussions about assigned material; however, it can be used on a daily basis by incorporating the questioning process into your daily interactions with students.

Most of our Bahujan students are not aware of their heroes and great leaders, however educated they are. Bahujan leaders and reformers have played a significant role in democratizing the Indian society and polity. They have also created a meaningful political identity for Bahujan and inspired them in the collective movement for social change Hence, there is stupendous potential for dalit literature in developing the students’ language skills and Bahujan ideology.

Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills can be developed apart from critical and higher order thinking skills by using dalit literature as content. In the recent past, we have seen an enormous rise in the Bahujan literature in the country. Most importantly, the young generation has become very vocal in articulating their aspirations through writing. Such literature can serve as rich enough content to develop higher order thinking skills among the Bahujan students. Additionally, the students will not only reap benefits from it in terms of English skills but also develop their interest in reading their own anti-caste literature in order to further their ideological affiliation. They are more likely to be motivated to read Dalit literature precisely because they will be doubly benefitted from it: honing their English language skills and furthering their ideological affiliation.

(Panchanan Duria is an academic and founder of English Support Mission (ESM), based in Odisha. He can be reached at duriapanchanan@gmail.com)