HYDERABAD: Compulsory learning of Telugu as a subject will be implemented up to SSC only and not Intermediate. The State government, which had earlier decided to implement Telugu as a compulsory language till Intermediate, went back on its decision and decided to implement it up to SSC from this academic year. A Bill in this regard would be introduced in the present session of the State Assembly. The decision was taken on Tuesday by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao after a meeting with a team of officials, who visited Tamil Nadu to study the implementation of Tamil in educational institutions there.
Opposing the decision, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi urged the government not to make Telugu compulsory up to Intermediate but only SSC like in Tamil Nadu. “Languages like Sanskrit, Arabic, Hindi, French and others should also be protected,” Akbaruddin said adding that several other lecturers were working in the state.
Akbaruddin said the three-language formula was there only up to SSC. “If the State decides to make Telugu compulsory, it should implement three-language formula at Intermediate level also,” he said.Later in the evening, Rao announced: “Initially it was thought that Telugu should be made compulsory till Intermediate. But Inter syllabus is not same in all the institutions and it will be difficult to introduce Telugu as a compulsory language at this stage. After studying the mother tongue policy being implemented in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, we have decided to implement it till SSC for now.”