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English medium in cadet colleges

29 January 2004, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Golam Kibria, Dhaka
29 January 2004, 18:00 PM
Recently, the government took the decision that English will be the medium of instruction for the cadet colleges. The decision has been taken, according to the press, to increase English language proficiency of the cadet college students. Cadet colleges have been running around for 40 years in Bangla medium and English has been given preference from the very beginning. The overall English standard in cadet colleges is satisfactory. Then why is the government now thinking to change the medium of instruction from Bangla to English ? Why is the English language proficiency decreasing among cadet college students ? If the standard of English has really decreased then it means once the standard was good. Poor teaching method and degradation of standard of teaching staffs in cadet colleges can be one of the reasons for the fall of the standard. It is the fault of methodology of teaching, not the medium of instruction. Without going at the root of the problem, the government is only thinking of changing the medium. It is not a good idea. The students of cadet colleges are doing very well in their professional life. If the cadets can perform well by studying in Bangla medium, it is not clear why the medium of instruction has to be changed.

Cadet colleges were set up basically for producing qualified personnel in different fields by the military rulers of Pakistan. Field Marshal Ayub Khan took the first initiative to set up cadet colleges.

If cadet colleges are run in English medium, disparity and discrimination will be further widened and they will turn out to be a system for the elite class only. If there is any fault in English teaching in Bangla medium, the teaching method should be changed and modernised, without changing the medium of instruction. We are not against learning of English. We want to learn English in our own mother tongue not in English medium. We will also learn English for communication only, not for any other reason.

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If cadet colleges adopt English medium, then all the government schools must also introduce English medium. The government seems to be worried about the standard of English of cadet college students, but is the government thinking of overall English standard of our educational institutions ? The overall English standard of cadet college students is far ahead of other government schools.

If the government has to increase the English proficiency level, government school students must be taken care of before others. The overall educational standards and English proficiency level are really frustrating in government schools. The government should give special attention to them. Cadet colleges do not need English medium.