HYDERABAD: Telangana government’s decision of introducing English as medium of instruction in government schools has divided people. While some are favouring the move, others have not yet warmed up to the idea. Santhoshi Kumari, a government school teacher who also works with Mahita, an NGO that works towards enrolling drop out students into mainstream education, says parents often ask teachers to ensure that their child learns English well.
Kumari said, “A lot of parents are getting attracted to send their children to schools only because they feel they will learn English. In fact, even at Anganwadi centres, we have had parents telling us to teach their children English alphabets.”
With parents giving preference to English medium schools it is not surprising that as per National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) between 2003 and 2011 there was an increase of 247 per cent in the number of students in English medium schools.
Although there is a rapid rise in parents and even state governments preferring English over the native language as medium of instruction in schools in hope of better future, there are few educationists like Prof G Haragopal who call promotion of English by governments nothing but a propaganda.
He said, “A child when he joins a school, he comes from an environment where he understands only his mother tongue. He can be taught better in his mother tongue rather than in English. Mother tongue cannot be given second preference.”
Another educationist, Chukka Ramaiah stresses that as a teacher he always found it easier to communicate and make students understand concepts in Telugu. However, he added, “We have to understand that this is not an educational problem but a social one.” “It involves aspirations of the poor people. Seeing people in good positions as a result of them knowing English makes them think that their fate too will change if their kids learn English and this should not be denied to them.”
Uttarakhand leads the race
Earlier this year, Uttarakhand made headlines as it announced that 18,000 government Hindi medium schools will be turned into English medium.