Importance of Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in Manipur Government Schools

Asem Tomba *

Not only teaching of English to Speakers of Other languages is arduous but its Acquisition is also challenging endeavor. In Manipur, most of the well to do families want to send their children to good private English Schools.

Those who have done schooling from these schools have a better chance of topping in the 10th and 12th exam, and moreover, the English language skills help them to compete with other students outside the state. A good environment for learning English is important for children.

Nevertheless, the worrisome is that the haves can send their children to reputed private English Schools but the have-nots are helpless. They take admission in government schools.

The system of teaching and learning is also quite different and as a result, we witness every year that the private schools' students are dominating in topping in the exam. However, my argument is not on the topping as there are other reasons for topping in Manipur private schools.

Most of the government schools students have been deprived of the right platform for learning English as a second language. As a result, most of the students have faced many challenges after their 10th, 12th, BA/MA/M.Phil/ Ph.D.

The challenges include lack of writing skills, speaking, reading and listening. To fill in the gap, right from the nursery, the state should adopt a well-formulated educational system till 12th standard.

Talented teachers who have competence in teaching English and rhymes having trained with profound teaching methodologies should be recruited and employed. Instead of relying too much on B.Ed/M. Ed, the state can take the initiative to send talented students to the UK and USA for teacher training.

There are various scholarships such as Commonwealth Scholarships, Chevening Scholarships and Fellowships, and Fulbright Fellowships etc. The state should negotiate with the government of India for special consideration for all these scholarships and fellowships for the North Eastern Region as the region is less developed as compared with other regions of India.

If the central government can provide 50 students for teachers' training for each state for the NER then we can have 250 talented and competent teachers in the state within 5 years along with this we can also have another possible way as Public Private Partnership.

In Manipur, there are many missionaries who are working with foreign countries like USA and UK. They have their trained and fully dedicated teachers in their Churches.

We can have a secular Teaching English and also learning English in the government schools. I strongly believe that if we can put this two proposals into actions then within 10 years we will have a different government school in Manipur.

I also believe that many government schools not only produce toppers but also life-long sufficient sustainable learning of the language in the state. This will definitely enhance the state human resources at par with other regions of India.

We may also remember that so far we don't have a certified IELTS Exam Centre in Imphal. We should have one very soon.