Texas leads in Hindi teaching

Houston, PTI:
With Hindi steadily emerging as "strategically" important language, schools in Texas are taking the lead in its education by introducing the first Hindi text book for High School students in the United States.
The 480-page ‘Namaste Jii’ is a “labour of love” that took Indian-origin teacher Arun Prakash almost eight years to develop. Prakash moved to Houston, Texas in the US for education and business in the 1980’s. When he first began teaching Hindi at the school in 1989, only eight students signed up for the class, seven of whom were of Indian heritage. “Initially, I was offered just USD 15 dollar a day, which barely covered the gas money.” Prakash had no proper teacher training or worksheets to work with, which inspired him to write the book. The novice teacher invented his own lessons, writing them by hand until he got a computer equipped with a Hindi font. Over the years, Prakash has stuffed countless photocopies into binders for his students. But in the upcoming year, for the first time, the Hindi students will get a hardcover textbook written by Prakash. Economic reason For decades, high school students in America have been able to take classes in Latin, Spanish, French and even German. But as India becomes a bigger economic power, interest in its native tongue is growing; and Texas state, with the fourth-largest Hindi-speaking population in the United States, is poised to become a leader in Hindi instruction.