Hindi in Austrialian schools boosts NZ drive
The drive to teach Hindi in New Zealand schools received a major boost this week with the announcement that Australia is to begin the teaching of Hindi in its schools.
Declaring that Asia's rise is "unstoppable", Australia on Sunday unveiled an ambitious plan aimed at forging deeper links with India and other booming economies of the region, including through teaching languages like Hindi and Mandarin in its schools.
"While Australia was changing - Asia was changing too. Whatever else this century brings, it will bring Asia's return to global leadership, Asia's rise," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was recently on her maiden official visit to India
"This (Asia's rise) is not only unstoppable, it is gathering pace," Gillard said, releasing a sweeping policy blueprint entitled 'Asian Century White Paper' aimed at maximising links with Asia which will power Australia into the world's top 10 wealthiest nations by 2025.
In Auckland, the news was welcomed by the head of the Hindi Language and Culture Trust of New Zealand, the organization which has been behind the drive for the introduction of Hindi classes in local schools.
“It is indeed good news,” trust president Satya Dutt said.
“It is encouraging news for us, and gives us more hope that the teaching of Hindi in mainstream New Zealand schools will be a reality,” Dutt told the Indian Weekender.
Dutt and his trust have been behind the introduction of Hindi lessons in Papatoetoe High School, where around 42 per cent of the students are of Indian origin.
It is the first school in New Zealand to offer Hindi classes.
Dutt said he and his team are already working on a “curriculum document” which will be presented to the Ministry of Education, which has given the “curriculum document” its backing.
“We have been in talks with the Ministry of Education,” Dutt said. “While there is no Government policy as yet on the subject, they have told us to go ahead with preparing a curriculum document.”
Mahendra Sharma of the Waitakere Indian Association said the Hindi language, like other international languages should be available to students who wished to learn the subject.
“It should be optional not compulsory. The Hindi Language and Culture Trust of New Zealand have done a great job in introducing the Hindi language curriculum in two South Auckland schools,” Sharma said.
“The time has come for our community to work together to help persuade politicians in establishing a Hindi curriculum as an optional subject.”
All Australian will engage with at least one school in Asia to support the teaching of a priority Asian language - Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese, PM Gillard said.
"Unlike in ages past, we will not settle for a student sitting at the back of the class not learning and then drifting away from school early. We can no longer tell ourselves this is all OK because a manual job will materialise for the child who cannot read, write or count," she said.
Gillard also mentioned that Australia was a friend to all countries.
Focusing on Asia, she said the region will be home to most of the world's middle class by as early as 2025. "This is good news for Australia and it should drive a profound change in our thinking about our economic relationship with Asia."
Hindus have welcomed Australian plans to introduce Hindi in country’s schools as outlined in the recently released “Australia in the Asian Century White Paper”.
In the United States, the news also received a warm welcome. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, termed this development as a “step in the right direction” for Australia.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that in addition to Hindi; Australian schools should also make facilities available for teaching other Indian languages like Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, etc.
The drive to teach Hindi in New Zealand schools received a major boost this week with the announcement that Australia is to begin the teaching of Hindi in its schools.
Declaring that Asia's rise is "unstoppable", Australia on Sunday unveiled an ambitious plan aimed at forging deeper links with...
The drive to teach Hindi in New Zealand schools received a major boost this week with the announcement that Australia is to begin the teaching of Hindi in its schools.
Declaring that Asia's rise is "unstoppable", Australia on Sunday unveiled an ambitious plan aimed at forging deeper links with India and other booming economies of the region, including through teaching languages like Hindi and Mandarin in its schools.
"While Australia was changing - Asia was changing too. Whatever else this century brings, it will bring Asia's return to global leadership, Asia's rise," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who was recently on her maiden official visit to India
"This (Asia's rise) is not only unstoppable, it is gathering pace," Gillard said, releasing a sweeping policy blueprint entitled 'Asian Century White Paper' aimed at maximising links with Asia which will power Australia into the world's top 10 wealthiest nations by 2025.
In Auckland, the news was welcomed by the head of the Hindi Language and Culture Trust of New Zealand, the organization which has been behind the drive for the introduction of Hindi classes in local schools.
“It is indeed good news,” trust president Satya Dutt said.
“It is encouraging news for us, and gives us more hope that the teaching of Hindi in mainstream New Zealand schools will be a reality,” Dutt told the Indian Weekender.
Dutt and his trust have been behind the introduction of Hindi lessons in Papatoetoe High School, where around 42 per cent of the students are of Indian origin.
It is the first school in New Zealand to offer Hindi classes.
Dutt said he and his team are already working on a “curriculum document” which will be presented to the Ministry of Education, which has given the “curriculum document” its backing.
“We have been in talks with the Ministry of Education,” Dutt said. “While there is no Government policy as yet on the subject, they have told us to go ahead with preparing a curriculum document.”
Mahendra Sharma of the Waitakere Indian Association said the Hindi language, like other international languages should be available to students who wished to learn the subject.
“It should be optional not compulsory. The Hindi Language and Culture Trust of New Zealand have done a great job in introducing the Hindi language curriculum in two South Auckland schools,” Sharma said.
“The time has come for our community to work together to help persuade politicians in establishing a Hindi curriculum as an optional subject.”
All Australian will engage with at least one school in Asia to support the teaching of a priority Asian language - Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese, PM Gillard said.
"Unlike in ages past, we will not settle for a student sitting at the back of the class not learning and then drifting away from school early. We can no longer tell ourselves this is all OK because a manual job will materialise for the child who cannot read, write or count," she said.
Gillard also mentioned that Australia was a friend to all countries.
Focusing on Asia, she said the region will be home to most of the world's middle class by as early as 2025. "This is good news for Australia and it should drive a profound change in our thinking about our economic relationship with Asia."
Hindus have welcomed Australian plans to introduce Hindi in country’s schools as outlined in the recently released “Australia in the Asian Century White Paper”.
In the United States, the news also received a warm welcome. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, termed this development as a “step in the right direction” for Australia.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that in addition to Hindi; Australian schools should also make facilities available for teaching other Indian languages like Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, etc.
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