Navigating Linguistic Boundaries

Understanding and Addressing School Alienation Among Kannada Medium Secondary School Students in Kasaragod District

Abstract

Kasaragod is the northernmost district of Kerala and is also known as Saptha Bhasha Sangama Bhoomi (The place where Seven languages meet). Though the administrative language is Malayalam, Tulu, Beary, Kannada, Marathi and Konkani are also used in Kasaragod. Most of the schools in Kasaragod is in Kannada, Malayalam and English medium. Tulu, Beary, Marathi and Konkani speaking students either studied in English, Malayalam, or Kannada medium. In such schools, students should opt Kannada as their first language. So, Kannada. Tulu, Malayalam, Marathi and Konkani speaking students often face language-related problems within the predominantly Kannada and Malayalam-based educational system. These problems include difficulties in comprehension, communication, linguistic alienation and a sense of cultural alienation. The lack of resources in their native languages, cultural differences, and potential isolation from the mainstream linguistic environment could contribute to this alienation. Indeed, language alienation can contribute to school alienation among students. When students face challenges in understanding or expressing themselves due to linguistic differences, it may lead to feelings of isolation, frustration, and disengagement from the educational environment. So, the investigators conducted a survey in a representative sample of 103 Tulu, Kannada, Malayalam, Konkani and Marathi speaking students studying in Kannada medium in Kasaragod districts to understand the school alienation among students. From the results, it is clear that majority of students show moderate level of alienation. There is significant difference in School alienation among gender. Boys show more school alienation than girls. The results also revealed that there is no significant difference in school alienation among Kannada medium students based on their mother tongue.