Super 30 founder Anand Kumar stresses teaching in mother

Mathematician and Super 30 founder Anand Kumar Friday stressed on the need for teaching children in their mother tongue Hindi so that they could grasp the subject with greater ease and in a natural way.

He was speaking at the Hindi Diwas function organised at IIT Kharagpur here.

"Hindi is a language most Indians are comfortable with, but imagine the kind of pressure we put on our children since they enter kindergarten. They speak one local language at home, Hindi and then English. It is the three language burden they carry. If they are taught one language that will make their life easier and boost their capacity to understand," he said.

Anand said that more than the language, the subject matter was important. "If a child understands, he or she can do better and engage in classrooms. There is a consensus among educators, educationists and linguists that children learn most effectively in their mother tongues," the Super 30 founder said.

Research conducted by the UNESCO shows that "children who begin their education in their mother tongue make a better start, and continue to perform better, than those for whom school starts with a new language," he said.

Anand is a well known mathematician whose Super 30 is hailed for facilitating students from poor background crack IIT entrance exams by providing free food, lodging and teaching.

More than 500 such students have made it to different IITs since inception of Super 30 in 2002.