18+. An Indian language was linked to jobs in the
government and private sectors. Anglo-Indians were failing
to pass Indian language examinations. Anglo-Indians were
dropping out of school because they were the "repeaters" in
the class. They failed at 16+ or at 18+ and very few had
entered an Indian University.
Forty years have passed since the researcher's traumatic
experience within the "language culture" of Anglo-Indian
schools. The Anglo-Indian system has not been made
accountable for this academic failure among Anglo-Indians.
The Anglo-Indian English medium schools did not have a
structured policy to teach Anglo-Indians an Indian
language. The language policy was structured to teach
English as a second language to Indian students. Anglo-
Indians were avoiding their own schools, although,
"freeships" continued to be offered to Anglo-Indian
students. (4)
After Indian independence in 1947, Hindi became an
educational issue. The effect of the new language policy
and its consequential disadvantages, led to the perception
among the Anglo-Indians that they were being discriminated
against. This led to intense insecurity and a desire to
emigrate from India to countries which had "British"
values, such as Great Britain, Canada and Australia. (5)
In the researcher's own case, her father suffered from
prejudice in the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (later
known as Central Railway). Her father's experience was
duplicated a thousand times. Anglo-Indians suffered racial
prejudice in the Indian Railways, the Customs and Excise,
the Post and Telegraphs and the Police departments. The
reasons for this, lay in the history of the Anglo-Indian
community. (6)
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