I came across this article written a few years ago by Chandrika Mathur (a teacher at Rishi Valley school) - Teaching and Learning Hindi as a 'Second' Language: Exploring a new Terrain, while searching for ideas on how to teach Hindi to kids in India in regions where Hindi is not the spoken language. My colleagues in Bangalore are facing huge problems, and several parents in Southern cities end up sending their kids for Hindi tuition.

Teachers teaching a foreign language like French and German have a wealth of resourcs created in the West that they can use, and children seem to be able to learn those languages with more ease than Hindi. Can similar "kits" be created by, of and for educators in India? Or at least create text books which recognize the inherent differences between children who are in Hindi-speaking cities and regions and those from non-Hindi-speaking ones?

The article by Chandrika Mathur has several tips and ideas on why Indian school children have such a hard time with their second and third Indian languages that they must perforce study. However, I really think the time has come for the government and bodies such as the Boards of education to face the reality of the non-native Hindi speaking population, and serve these constituencies by funding the creation of appropriate teaching and learning materials, or otherwise simply re-visit the idea of mandating second and third Indian languages on our school kids.

I'd love to hear others thoughts on this.