English Education will not make us Angrej!

The recent incidence at Loreto Covent in Lucknow and events that followed throws up many issues to ponder.  What occurred at Loreto Convent is not only against the ethos of Bharatiya society but also raises alarm bells about what is taking place in the Christian Missionary run schools in the name of education.  However, what followed the incidence raises more questions than answers.

First of all, the genuine protests by those who felt their faith compromised were publicized as ‘vandalism’. There was a deliberate and unfortunately successful attempt by politically correct media, intellectual and political parties alike to cover up the ‘Occult Session’ that led to the protests. There was ‘widespread condemnation’ of the protests; however, not a word of denunciation was spoken against the school’s unethical attempts to baptize the Hindu students.  Resultantly, the victims were at the receiving end and perpetrators of such dastardly acts were allowed to go scot-free.

The whole incidence brings the missionary movement in focus again. It is an inarguable fact that missionary movement in India has been one of the long lasting movements. It is also undeniable that Missionaries have been more often than not successful in their efforts,efforts to convert Hindus into Christians.

The roots of this widespread media and intelligentsia bias are somewhere else. The fact is the majority of journalists and so called opinion makers come from the educational institutes which are predominantly Leftists, where anything and everything done by RSS and affiliated Hindu organizations is glorified as acts of communalism. This age old and successful practice of Leftist establishment to ‘catch them young’ has started bearing fruits lately.

Spread and Influence of Missionaries:

First let us try and analyze why missionaries have been able to achieve their targets. Missionaries have well established educational institutions in every major district, city and village in India. Whether St. Xavier’s or Loreto Convent, these institutes attract a huge chunk of middle class Indians mainly because of English education.

A hypothetical and modest calculation throws up some shocking numbers.  With roughly 2000 students, and Fees of at least Rs.10,000 per annum, total money earned by one missionary school per year comes out at about 2 Crore Rupees. Assuming 50% margin, each school makes approximately 1 crore profit.

Considering 4 to 5 schools per districts and 604 districts, total profit accumulated from all the schools comes out at about staggering Rs. 2,718 crores. It is well know that Christian missionaries use this money to convert poor Hindus. Also, considering more such schools, hospitals, churches built from this money will render more money and more conversions and the cycle continues.

One would not need more than Rs. 1 Lakh to get a head of a family of 4 to 5 converted.  With Rs. 2,7180 crores, about 2,71,800 families, means about 12,23,100  Hindus can be converted in a year. That is more than 3000 Hindus per day!

These calculations have been done on very modest assumptions. We have not taken into account different missionary schools/colleges that charge around 1 Lakh per annum per student. It is very difficult to take any direct action against these practices, as they use Hospitals, schools and jobs as tools, thus giving it a humanitarian angle.

A Possible Solution:

RSS is fortunate to have a widespread network of Vidya Bharti schools. These schools must be credited for instilling the good qualities such as discipline and ethos of Hindutva as part of the education with common concern for Bharat and Hinduism. However, one major shortcoming of most Vidya Bharti students is lack of command over English language.  And considering most high paid, technical/non-technical jobs require proficient knowledge of English, lack of command over the same limits these student’s opportunities.

A practical solution to this scenario is allow English education in more than 20,000 Vidha Bharti schools run by Sangh Parivar, which teach close to 30 lakh students. Hindu Parents will always prefer a Sangh school over any missionary school provided a decent level of English education is offered.  This will really dry up earnings of missionaries in a big way and thereby reducing their influence.

Also, English is a global language. It is an undeniable fact that a good command over English increases the chances of facing and succeeding in any interview. Especially in present day when Globalization is a reality, which India is a part of and it is here to day, importance of English is a fact and should not underestimated and Sandh needs to prepare for that. And it is also a fact that it will be about 15 to 20 years for a significant impact is noticed.

Potential Benefits:

Imagine potential cumulative long term impacts. Thousands of Vidya Bharti students will be selected in prestigious institutions of higher education, in India and overseas.  Additionally, this will open up many avenues for the students for Government and Private sector jobs. This means many benefits.

First, more power to Sangh’s ideology as its followers are in top hierarchy of government and private sectors. Second, more funding. Example is Alumni of different education institutes. Different surveys indicate that a candidate with English knowledge and proficiency manage pay of up to 400 to 500% higher than equally qualified non-English speaking counterpart. The more fancied jobs in airlines, hotels, media, banks and financial services go only to those who know English, the rest are forced into less paid assignments.

Third, more young blood joining and working for Sangh. As people will get settled in life sooner, there will be more of the young generations joining Sangh than ever before.

Fourth, influence over media. The English speaking crowd in media is mainly communist. There will be significant people in the higher echelons of the media to ensure that unbiased news reaches the public.

Fifth, penetration in Non-Hindi states. With this type of implementation, there will be deeper access to young generations in non-Hindi states like West-Bengal, North-Eastern states, South Indian states and J&K in near future, by opening Vidya Bharti schools there.

Sixth, millions will spread the light of Hindutva around the whole world, just like Shri Shakracharya did in India. Their thoughts will help clarify trueness of Hindutva and they will be considered spokespersons of Hindu Nation/Religion.

A great example is Swami Vivekananda who adopted English to successfully spread the message of Hindutva. Even ISCKON is helping spread the Krishna culture to foreign lands, as well as in esteemed institutions like the IITs in India, by the use of English.

Opposition to English:

Opponents of spread of English language put forth some concrete arguments. Plus it is to their credit that their opposition stems from love for the Mother Tongue and Bharatiya Sanskriti.

However, we have to say this to our fellow friends who don’t aqueous to our thoughts. Do you think one will be more in love with his/her mother tongue, if subjects like History/Civics/Science (all other subjects other than Language) are taught in Hindi/Mother Tongue?

Students already get a lot of practice in their local tongue because they daily interact with their friends and family members in their local tongue. There can be different levels of implementation of this plan, in which we may preserve our mother tongue and also give importance to English.

Also the argument that English tends to make one Angrej  is unfair. It amounts to underestimate resilience of Bharatiya culture.  Narendra Modi is proficient in English, however, did it make him an Angrej!

Another argument put forth is that countries like China, Japan and Germany progressed without adopting English then why cannot we do the same in India! However, we believe India’s comparison with countries like China and Japan is out of sync. For example, Japan has one national language.  Whereas in India, we have different languages in different states, with the exception of North, which is predominantly Hindi. We have to accept it as a fact that Hindi Language as a unifying factor has not achieved the intended results.  With globalization, English is fast emerging as a preferred language that can unify people in North and South, East and West.

It is high time that importance of English and its influence is understood in the right perspective and this suggestion is implemented urgently. It should be a matter of asking “how” and “when”. It is time to move on from “why”.

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