Telangana Govt. Schools to Teach in English Medium

The Telangana government has proposed to introduce English as a medium of teaching in all government schools from Class I to Class X. However, teachers’ organisations said that 60 percent of the teachers working in government schools cannot teach in English. Experts felt that the lack of trained teachers would hamper the implementation of the project.

Currently, there are around 1.18 lakh teachers working in 20,210 primary schools, 3217 high schools, 294 government aided schools, where the medium of instruction is Telugu only. There are another 2,400 high schools where the medium of instruction is both English and Telugu. “Of the total number of teachers, at any given point, only 40 percent can teach in English. That doesn’t mean that the rest of the teachers cannot teach, but they would need extensive orientation classes in English,” according to Teachers Union.

The proposal was recently made by TS chief minister during a meeting with the education minister G Jagadish Reddy and other education officials. CM asked the officials to come up with new policies on how to go about the transition. Teachers say that the government cannot convert all schools to English medium immediately as it would affect students and teachers as well.

They added that the government should concentrate on filling the 13,000 teaching positions are presently vacant. “Firstly, the government should fill the vacancies with qualified teachers who can teach in English. It should arrange orientation classes at the Regional Institutes of Education, Mysore, before taking the step,” said our teacher, who requested anonymity. While the CM’s aim is to provide quality English medium education to the downtrodden, there is no consensus among the government officials over the matter. “I will take up issue with the chief minister.

There are chances that children may not learn Telugu at all if English is introduced as the only medium for all classes. Telugu medium should be mandatory at least till class III,” according government source. Source:TheHansIndia