Young Keralites’ inability to speak fluently in English will have serious repercussions when they enter a competitive job market, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor has said.
Dr. Tharoor explored the growth and recession of the language in the State over the past 50 years, at a function held on Tuesday to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of Kerala University’s English Department. He was inaugurating a programme ‘A Celebration with Letters,’ organised by the Institute of English and the Centre for Cultural Studies, at the Senate Chamber here.
The Union Minister said that even in the university, the comfort level with spoken English had gone down in these 50 years.
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Over this period, there was an added emphasis on instructing in local languages, which slowly led to an alienation of the English language. He hoped that the English Literature students would usher in a revival of the language in Kerala.