Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2018 Toolkit Toolkit 2018 Final | Page 22

Current Status of Tamil Education in School
Focusing on
knowledge of
literary Tamil
instead of
knowledge of
spoken Tamil
Knowledge of the literary language will not survive without knowledge
of the spoken Tamil which the child learns at home before starting
school. Hence, in recent years, MOE has made a marked shift away
from its emphasis on literary Tamil to focus on improving usage of
spoken tamil in classrooms to help the students forge a good
connection with their mother tongue at a young age.
“Recognize that the teaching of Tamil has become like the teaching of
other classical languages such as Latin and Sanskrit. Though they are
interesting and beautiful languages, and contain great riches, their
connection with the mother tongue is lost.” (Schiffman, 2009).
Schiffman (2009) recommends that earliest literacy should be through
the medium of spoken Tamil. Spontaneous ability to read texts, create
texts, and manipulate language can rest only on this knowledge.
Earliest reading should prefer sentences such as “கல் இருக்கு” over
“கற்கள் இருக்கின்றன”.
Focus on
skills in
education that
does not help
them in the
long-term
Students’ mindset towards Tamil should be changed. A pressing need
to move away from marks based and exams-based learning and a
pressing need to make Tamil non-examinable especially at a secondary
level and make learning of the language enjoyable for students. E.g.
Learning Tamil through skits and conducting lessons in an interactive
manner.
Tamil language should be examined through a continual assessment
rather than a one-time examination and topics tested should be
focused on those that continue to engage youth such as cinema.
Need to
develop more
self-directed
learning
among Tamil
students
Viewing the learning of Tamil as a mere academic pursuit has resulted
in today’s Tamil youth largely depending on their teachers for answers
which can result in a loss of a sense of ownership over the language
itself. Some schools and organisations have created platforms for
youth to engage with issues related to the Tamil community at an early
age in order to inculcate a sense of belonging to the Tamil community.
19