As previously announced on 15th April 2011, “bhojpuri” will no more be taught as a subject in our primary schools in 2012 due to the very low interest rate. Instead the government has decided to allocate 15 minutes of the normal hindi classes to be used for “bhojpuri”.
Only 50 students (published on some newspaper) have expressed their interest till now in “bhojpuri” while an encouraging number of students have opted for the “kreole morisien“.
I find it true to say that
- Many modern families do not grant much importance to hindi and
- Many among the parents are unable to help their kids in completing their hindi homework as compared to their maths problems.
- Additionally, the number of students opting for Hindi as a language in secondary schools is declining.
So, now there’s a question I asked myself several times :
Does this high interest rate show that parents find it less painful for their kids to learn this “kreole morisien” rather than investing time/money in a language which their kids will eventually abandon once they move to college?
If we take it in this way, “kreole morisien” is becoming the result of what we usually say in kreole “choizir par elimination“.
Yashvinblogs 
Ok le vin est tiré, il faut le boire. With Kreol being taught at school time, it’s high time to start introducing critical thinking, communication skills and creative writing at primary level. So far, most primary pupils have been learning everything by heart, not only due to the CPE rat race, but also since they were learning the medium (English) at the same time – they could not also be expected to develop critical thinking at that age using a medium they do not properly master. Let’s wait and see.
Ok pou bann ca ki pe coz enn langaz communal blah blah sipa kreol langaz ancestral blah blah … all of this is rubbish. But if they wanted something really useful, why not teach Latin used in pre-Vatican II texts. At least those kids would learn the roots of the words used in English and French and would help them to expand their vocabulary, or guess the meaning of difficult words by identifying the Latin roots.
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Deviens qui tu es!
Nietzsche (Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra)
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Interesting to note this trend. I would have thought that this was inevitable as Bhojpuri is in decline amongst the younger generation. It is evident in some families that the young have not continued to use this language which now seems to be used only by their grandparents.
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sry mate.. but i dont agree with you about latin. there is no point in learning latin if the brat just listens to his teachers properly and read books for kids hell knw english and french like we all do . point bar! dan place li ale zouer football li trap so livre should do the trick. alliance francaise exisT pou ban ki envi aprane plus.. pas hesiT ban zen. go for it. on another note li bon ki at least zot ine decide pou enleve bhojpuri kan zot ine trouV ki li pas p marcher. personellement mo penC aprane hindi, urdu ou mandarin (which i personally think might be MUCH more important- experience proves me right anyway) plus importan ki apran creole ou bhojpuri. ene zafer zot bizin realiser.. c ki kan faire ene zafer fauD ena ene use behind. si zot envi aprane language par pur raison ancestrale.. faire li lakaz. quant a creole..mone toujours trouve sa un peu ambigu. zot p koz 2 zafer..servi creole kuma medium (ki im sure most state primary schools do- i went to a catholic one) et aprane creole. mo contre aprane creole for the reason mainly ki mo pas ler dimoun dicT moi kmen pou ecrire mo creole. arive college anyway ban lecturer servi creole kuma medium… mo dernier “rant”; mo tidan bus hier et mone pense ene zafer. kifer maurice ena information en hindi , urdu(correct me if im wrong) etc.. i mean ene info en francais et anglais all too normal for a country where english is the official language and french enjoys a quasi equivalent status. the main purpose of having different languages in news is for the mass to understand it.. donc francais, anglais et creol(pas vine dire moi ki ena dimoun kmpren zis bhojpuri et pas kmpren creol – and if its true..well serves them right) are far enough. but of course its a way to “faire lepep kntan”. sa ine toujours accepT et pou toujours sought par ban various communities malheureusement.
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Mauritius Blog List ti pé dirr:
“But if they wanted something really useful, why not teach Latin used in
pre-Vatican II texts. At least those kids would learn the roots of the
words used in English and French and would help them to expand their
vocabulary, or guess the meaning of difficult words by identifying the
Latin roots.”
C’est simplement enn analogie. Latin li permett ou “sense” etymologie (c-a-d, origine / racine) bann mots ki dérivé depi ar latin: si mo dire ou écoute Portugais, Italien ou Allemand, ou capave pou dire ki ou pas comprend nargnié. Mais quand ou guette bann mots-la attentivement, ou pou réaliser ki en-fett, c’est preske mem racine partout, avec bann variantes.
Mem hindi ena bann mem racine: Latab, c’est “Méz” en hindi ek en italien li “mesa”. Ki ou dir?
Quand ou gagne “feel” la, li pas difficile déchiffrer Allemand (li inpé ressembler Anglais en fett), Italien, Espagnol ou Portuguais, cwar moi. Nek lirr Wikipedia dans ça-bann langaz-la ou pou trouver ou-mem.
Mais si moi mo ti pou rekomann dimounn apprann enn kik langaz, mo ti pou all lorr Mandarin, Espagnol ou Allemand. Alala ki-ferr.
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uhm.. yeaaaahhh mo kner ki ban langues la zot roots latin. mo pas ti p expect ene lecture lor la.. mais mo pas ti kner si mtius blog list ti p dire sa serieusement ou juste like that. et mo point c si li serieux about it i dont thk that it is reallya good idea. mais mo dakor ki espagnol et mandarin important.. allemand mo pas tres convaincu but still . wouldnt harm to know it i guess.
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ipsa scientia potestas est
(knowledge itself is power)
Ah, Latin…
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maybe, maybe not. one thing’s for sure, we had no control or vote on that decision
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I fail to see how this will make the next generation progress, whether it be creol or bhojpuri. Something like oral english or french or even another language would have been more interesting(imo of course).
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“an encouraging number of students have opted for the ‘kreole morisien'”
How many exactly?
In fact, if I’m getting it right, they never had a third choice like this:
1. Mauritian Creole
2. Bhojpuri
3. None of the above
I think that is a dick move on the part of the government. Before the next elections, during their political campaign they’ll say:
“there is progress in the education system – *we* introduced a new language”.
Eventually, some Mauritians will feel overwhelmed by it and they’ll re-elected them for a third time.
IMHO, these are more rational than Mauritian creole language: http://www.cracked.com/article_19254_5-surprisingly-easy-ways-to-make-kids-smarter.html
How can Mauritian creole be beneficial and to whom? Obviously, its not and it was never about being beneficial but just a point that they can use to fill the gap.
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I remember having read something about the number of students choosing kreole, but I can’t remember where!
I will try to look for that.
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Cracked!! Wai, péna zott ségon, ça ki appelle “seriously funny” reference!
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Cracked!! Wai, péna zott ségon, ça ki appelle “seriously funny” reference!
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Funny, with a dose of sarcasm, yes.But all they say are always supported by scientific studies, facts or peer reviewed articles
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Wai, samem mo ti pe rode dirr: cracked.com is serious. So bann lartik pil-pwal exact, ek bien referencé partou partou. And sarcastically funny at the same time. This is the principal reason why I am a fan of Cracked.com.
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This world is evolving and so does and will education, old things are becoming obsolete. Students should focus on important subjects instead of things which won’t help them in any way.
Its a good thing that this is being dropped
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there was a time wen i didnt get most of z words bhojpuri words koz even my grandpa spoke creole wiz me..apres mo oci penC ki mo pa ti nvi appran li a lepok..koz its considered as a rural language by many youngsters..i was one of those..
bt after college, i started getng more n more in touch wiz dat..it was fun..esp wen we tried 2 converse among frds..nw im proud 2 admit dat i do talk bhojpuri..
probleme c ki astr bane zelev penC ki bane language oriental pna valeur..ena fois bane parents oci jouE ene grand role lor mentaliT bane zenfans..surtou ki ena boku parents ki met boku l’emphase lor bane lezot sujet..bisin gagne A dans tou bane matiere..Oriental sa pa pu prnd compte..
on doit parler le français/l’anglais à la maison..mais hindi…sa non..
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haha, that makes me remember something that I do practically everyday at work.
We try to communicate in hindi, just for the fun and it does happen that sometimes we say “euh, ki line dir la?” or “kouma dir sa dans indien?”It can be fun too 🙂
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Ok.. so as a relatively ‘modern’ mauritian kid. I understand bhojpuri, but cant talk that much fluently in the language. But most important of all: I have NO INTEREST at all in learning bhojpuri.
Can someone give me some reasons why i should be interested? (apart from it being fun sometimes).
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Personally, I am very sad to hear about this trend. Ok, I myself did hindi till form 5 and understand bhojpuri but does not speak too fluently. My maternal grandma was a hindi teacher at aryan vedic and at home my mom and her sibblings would not speak a word of creole since my grandma asked them to talk ‘bhasha’ or if you want bhojpuri. I’ve just read the comment of Sun and feel real sad about the comment he/she gave. Am not here to defend bhojpuri or hindi but all that I know from deep down within myself is that I am proud that I understand and speak a little bit of hindi and bhojpuri. In fact am sad I do not speak this language fluently. I get to practise with my mom. The message I have to young generations: Both hindi and bhojpuri forms part of our culture, we should be proud of it rather than making fun of it. We should ensure that these 2 languages are not killed but rather than future generations know from where we come and what cultural treasure we carry. I am proud to be a Mauritian but also proud of my ethnicity and the background it has. I personally will make the most as long as my mom is here and will inculcate these 2 languages to my children. I do not want these languages to die. I should say, hats off to the Muslim community who since a very young age encourage their kids to learn arabic or urdu language. Even they could ask what’s the use of learning that language since it wont be of any use to us. But they keep their language alive. I believe same applies for people from marathi or tamil communities. So why allow hindi and bhojpuri to die? Who to blame? I believe as yashvin said those parents who find it a pain to help their kids in hindi homework rather than a maths homework. I am not here to critcize as well, but many people around me have condemned the idea of using creole as a subject. That is another debate. But anyway, my point is that younger gens should start thinking about keeping the dying languages alive….
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Instead of learning a maternal tongue. Mauritians of Hindu decent would rather learn some ebonics type gibberish. These idiots are so lucky that their ancestors didn’t think the way they did or else mauritius would be some 2nd rate country like Trinidad or Jamaica
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what use is creole? at least with Hindi you can connect with an emerging market in India.Hindi, Mandarin need to be promoted not useless creole.if mauritius wants to end up like jamaica then ya this is the right way to go.our ancestors wonder what they would think to see us going “Bumbaclot! Dem tek mi rolex and mi new links!!” only in Mauritian creole instead of Jamaican creole.
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Well I really think that bhojpuri is losing momentum from the contemporary world. Its also true that youngsters don’t even want to learn the language. Nevertheless people tend to neglect the fact that the youngsters of today were not even initiated to this particular language since their early childhood. Therefore according to me elders are to be pointed for failing to induce the so called ancestral language in their children. Now coming to the point that it should be introduced as a pedagogical subject, it is clearly not a plausible decision! Why? Simply because it has got no common way of pronunciation and no common grammar like no common vocabulary. Even if the youngsters are taught bhojpuri which will be a revised version of the original one prevailing in mauritius!! So even if it is implemented I personally don’t think that the bhojpuri spoken by the elders and that one which will be spoken by the youngsters if ever they will want to speak it will match to such a great extent!! In what concerns the youth turning away from their tradition then I dont think that if the traditions were explained and taught to them they would have ran away from them!! Concerning spoken oriental languages we cannot blame the youth for not speaking or not speaking Hindi fluently as some or all of the head of sociocultural associations are themselves not able to pronounce and communicate fluently in Hindi and they think of engaging the youth to talk Hindi or bhojpuri whish will be of no use to them since creole is having an upperhand!! Its absolutely nonsense as for now even my husband’s grandma speaks in creole or even french to me!!
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@ Mina R
“hats off to the Muslim community who since a very young age encourage
their kids to learn arabic or urdu language. Even they could ask what’s
the use of learning that language since it wont be of any use to us.
But they keep their language alive. I believe same applies for people
from marathi or tamil communities.”
Hmm, this is a very strange value-judgement / generalisation…
I’ve also heard a pandit saying that ‘like muslims fight and obtain
their 2-hour leave every Friday, we must have off-hours for practising
our rites’. Yes, and continue copying whatever thing ‘the others’ do
(you name it: Chirstians for their numerous not-public holiday, but
business-closing celebration, etc), just for the sake of copying. The
fundamental is forgotten here: how do you (YOU) feel about it? Are you
people deaf-blind-dumb sheep to think that you have no other option than
to just obey whatever instructions are issued by self-appointed
know-all religious bigot?
As I always tell these pandits, if you have to rally people around you,
– First, detoxify your mind about the so-called “danger” of other
ethnic groups: they don’t claw, bite, kill others just because of a
different creed, they are humans first and foremost, and therefore if
you want respect, respect them first, not the hypocritical ‘tolerance’
thing.
– Then, in your preaches, use a language that everyone understands, not
the sophisticated 3+syllable-words-type hindi that only scholars from a
remote part of India only speak and understood by only a coterie of
yes-men and sheep: creole is a medium that gets your message across
undiluted, unambiguously clear (sorry for the ‘pléonasme’ :-)) to all,
irrespective of age.
– Finally stop criticizing the ordinary folks – all of us mauritians,
for that matter – for having ‘abandoned’ their culture, threatening hell
(what is hell in hinduism??) to anyone having ‘westernised’ etc. Don’t
the pandits themselves use toothpaste and toothbush to clean their teeth
– why don’t they show the counter-example and start using “dattwann”
then? And the numerous ones who have a day-time job in the civil
service, abusing of their rights to time-off to opt for
highly-remunerated ceremonies at individuals’ residences both in
week-days and week-ends and their own lavish lifestyle that they cannot
divulge… And then preaching to people to be truthful and honest in
their lives.
I’ve read in an article in (now-extinct) Le Mag from a historian
comparing two mauritian villages of the 40’s/50’s how rivalry was
relative to the size of the ‘dominant’ ethnicity: in a village of the
South where muslims were in majority, the author found that there was
huge animosity between Ahmadiyas and the Sunni muslims and very
interestingly no friction at all between hindus, and even marriages were
normal between tamil-speaking, marathi-speaking and hindi-speaking
hindus. This was totally unheard of in another village of the North
where hindus were in majority, and constant feud and in-fighting among
those who had different ancestral languages even if their rites had in
fact originated from the same holy trinity.
Same thing nowadays: Mauritians in some place abroad (whatever: Canada,
US, Australia, UK…) do they frown upon meeting other Mauritians at
parties? But as soon as you exceed a critical mass of Mauritians
together, why do they “have” to split along ehtnic lines…? Mystère,
mystère…
Aside this ethnic thing that unnecessarily distracts us from the
fundamentals (we are speaking about HOW to transmit knowledge here, not
even to the WHAT is being transmitted, and whether it will serve any
use…) this
article reminds us that a native mother tongue always has all its relevance and value,
whatever it may be. It is just an introductory medium to knowledge, nothing else.
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Well Akash of course people are going to look at other privledges and ask for the same. Why should someone get to go home 2 hours before or get free holidays for the sake of their “religion” and ethnicity and the majority got to take up their slack. Just like the majority had to take up the slack for a useless and dying language like creole. Bhojpuri is much more legitimate then creole at least as a language among the hindus. Its not our job to look after others poeple culture, just like its not theirs to protect ours.
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Ahem…
Abé ki ou pé attann pou al ouverr ou prop lekol bhojpuri (ou sirr ou pou capav coumanss ar sa 50 dimounn ki gouvernman pa pou capav satiferr-la)?
Just a silly question: ou koz bhojpuri 100% ou letan? Non?
The same “us against them” paranoia, eh?
The same “ours is better / more legitimate that theirs” bigotry?
Yashvin, I thought that the comments were moderated to keep things ‘clean’…?
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Hello @Akash.
Yes, moderation is always on but it depends on how you define ‘clean’. Usually, personal attacks, swearing and spamming are some of the criterias not accepted here 🙂
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Rasclat, what u sayin me no go no clue man. I ain’t be rayciss guy. Me wanna get meself a aishwarya rai maan.
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Akash I am suprised that you would rather go for censorship then refute my points. Emotional and utopian sentiments are not a replacement for facts.
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Ou compran kreol, ou koz kreol, me ou pa siportt koz sa dan class? ki ou pe attann pou rapportt tou prof ki (par malerr) ratt enn koutt dire “ayo”??
Ki kalite ha: wadir bann anti-occidantal: tou saki ocxidantal ferr pa bon, me bann anti-ocxidantal mem kontan servi ocxidantal so teknolozi – kouma loto, couran, lakaz beton tousala.
Bien zoli – What “points”?? Your “points” don’t need refuting – your whining about my supposed call to censorship actually proves it. Ou envi permission 2hr par zour, demander mama-oh / papa-oh. Si ou gouvernnman pa pe donne mem, ki ou plaingne ar moi – ou vott sa, ou gouvernman ha, pa moi 🙂
It’s only through your distorted ethno-casteist lens that you perceive the situation here as “facts”.
Enough said. Racists are the only ones finding wrong in other peoples only.
Relax sista/bro, it’s only life.
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Torpedo, if you don’t got the intelligence to argue, then don’t post at all. “Your “points” don’t need refuting – your whining about my supposed call to censorship actually proves it.” Actually it proves my point, you need a moderator to stop posting things you can’t respond to. You remind me of some Jamaicans that use to blame the teacher for them being too lazy to actually do some studying to pass a grade. “Dee teacha bee rayciss, bomboclat.”
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We rejected Bhojpuri and not Hindi. Dont mix these two.
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That’s exactly what has been said 🙂
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Li pas vraiment necessaire ki montrer bhojpuri dans ene lekol. It is a dialect, just like creole. Normalement c’est dans la caz and it all depends on parents. LOL. Ene zafr nous pas réaliser ki depi tipti nous p montrer piti la français, “tu as mangé?” “Nous allons bien régaler” Lol maybe they do not realise that dans lekol saem zot ena pou empranne après!
Why not talk to him in bhojpuri at home at least. Au moins nous conner ki li pou conne débrouille li dans ene lote language en plus.
Ka bolele bhaiiyaa? xD
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