By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
CRANBOURNE is home to the first government school in Australia to introduce Hindi into their curriculum for Preps to Grade 6 students.
Rangebank Primary School included the compulsory language in 2012 and principal Colin Avery said the program had taken off.
“It’s given our students a better understanding of multiculturalism, India and their customs as the Indian population grows in Australia,” Mr Avery said.
Hindi was chosen to replace the Auslan (Australian Sign Language) program after the teacher left the school, and Mr Avery said the entire school community had a choice in the decision.
“We chose Hindi regardless of the small Indian community at the school and took on board the Asian languages push from the state and federal governments.
“We took some parent groups through general discussion; there were quite a few schools teaching Japanese, Indonesian and Mandarin so by doing something a bit different we were hoping it would put Rangebank on the map. When I first arrived, there were people living in Cranbourne that didn’t even know where Rangebank was,” Mr Avery said.
In 2013, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard removed Korean from the list of preferred languages and replaced it with Hindi.
Mr Avery said that was the point he knew they were on the right track.
Rangebank Primary School has incorporated the new class into the school wholeheartedly and now celebrate the Holi and Light festivals.
“We have a Hindi dance group at the school, and we have Bollywood dancers coming to teach the students, it’s certainly very much a part of our school and the students are gaining an awful lot and there’s no doubt learning a foreign language is extremely good for brain development,” he said.
Students learn Hindi once a week along with traditional dance and Indian customs.
Mr Avery has been invited to speak at a Hindi and Australian workshop in Canberra where Dr Peter Friedlander lecturer at the Australian National University will discuss the Hindi curriculum in Australian schools.
“I will definitely advise others on its success.
“The Indian community in Australia is growing, and the language is clearly something we need to fill a gap,” he said.
