Importance Of English Education

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Introduction
Importance of education as one of the most powerful means for bringing about socio-economic equity among people cannot be overemphasised. In the recent years there is an emerging trend in favour of English language learning. Today in India, English is not seen just as a language but as a path for upward social mobility and economic betterment. It is perceived as a powerful agent for social change. People both in urban and rural areas perceive it as a language of power and opportunities. Despite the agitations by advocates of education in mother- tongue, English language education is gaining in prominence with each passing day in today’s globalised context. It is one of the “most powerful means of inclusion into or exclusion from further education, employment, or social positions” (Pennycook 2001).

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), India has also documented the demand and importance of English language in the position paper in connection with the National Curriculum Framework (2005) where states that, “English in India today is a symbol of people’s aspiration for quality in education and fuller participation in national and international life.... The level of introduction of English has now become a matter of political response to people’s aspirations, rendering almost irrelevant an academic debate on the merits of a very early introduction.” In its report, the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) (2009) has stated that “the

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