Kannada Mitraru: Keeping Kannada safe

BENGALURU: While most people might have stopped taking interest in communicating or even educating children in Kannada, and prefer English in Karnataka, a group of people living in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, have decided to teach Kannada to children of Kannadiga parents who have migrated to Dubai for work. The purpose of starting Kannada classes for kids living in Dubai is an interesting story. Uday Kiran, a member of Kannada Mitraru in Dubai, told TNIE, Kannada Paatashale started in Dubai in 2014. It started when Shashidhar Nagarajappa from Karnataka along with his friends in Dubai were discussing how NRI children lacked knowledge in their mother tongue, Kannada. It is very sad if one doesnt know their mother tongue because it is not just a language but also part of our culture. That is when Shashidhar and 50 other people decided to start a school, Kannada Paatashale, to teach the basics of Kannada language so that children can read, write and speak the language. NRI parents are unable to teach Kannada to children because in most families, both parents go to work. They dont find time to teach their child. Thats why we conduct Kannada classes only on Saturdays and this is all done for free. We dont charge a paisa for teaching or providing textbooks to these students. Since Kannada Mitraru had to bring children under a common roof, in 2014, they started classes at JSS School in Dubai. The classes here continued until 2017. In 2018, classes were moved to ASAP tutors, and in 2019, to Bilwa India School, which continued until 2020. Post-Covid, they have switched to online classes. From 2021, classes will be conducted on the Zoom platform. The Kannada Mitraru team has taken the job seriously, so they have also designed the curriculum required to teach the language. Uday explained, There are three levels in the entire curriculum. In level 1, we teach students the alphabets, numbers and poems. In level 2, we teach them Kannada words and framing of sentences. In level 3, we teach them Kannada grammar, essay and letter writing. The duration of these classes are from November to April. By the end of these classes, students would have learnt the language, about various personalities from Karnataka and more. Asked about the number of students who have taken interest in learning the language, he said, We started teaching only 45 students, it increased to 60, and by 2022, we were teaching 640 children, which increased to 870. This year, we have 1,258 students learning Kannada, he said. This initiative by Kannada Mitraru has helped many students converse in Kannada, understand the culture and language and more importantly, if the child wants to pursue higher education in Karnataka, then learning the language would be an added advantage. Uday said, The major milestone our school achieved was in 2024 when the Kannada Development Authority permitted us to print the name of the authority as well as use the state symbol, Ganda Berunda, on a certificate that we provide to the students at the end of the year. All the certificates given to the students who passed out in 2023-24 after learning Kannada have the state symbol and name of Kannada Development Authority. Besides teaching Kannada to NRI children, Kannada Mitraru have also helped government high schools in Karnataka by providing laptops, digital projector, colour printers especially in rural areas where students have less accessibility to learn through technology. It includes schools in Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Bidar, Ramanagara, Mandya, Kodagu, Chamarajnagar, Raichur, Kalaburgi, Mysuru, Chitradurga, Ballari and others. Core team of Kannada Mitraru in Dubai includes: Shashidhar Nagarajappa, President Siddalingesh G R, Vice-President Roopa Shashidhar, Teacher of Kannada Paatashale Sunil Gavaskar , Secretary Nagaraj Rao, Treasurer Shashidhar Mundargi, Joint Secretary