HYDERABAD: The State government has given major relief to students studying central syllabus. It has announced that the ‘compulsory Telugu’ in English and other medium schools will be implemented only in a phased manner from 2018-19. This means, the subject will only be introduced to students entering class-I and class-VI in the upcoming academic year. However, for students following State syllabus in English and Telugu medium schools the language paper will be implemented from Class-I to SSC in the coming academic year.
The Telangana (Compulsory Teaching and Learning of Telugu in Schools) Bill, 2018 was adopted by the State Legislative Assembly on Saturday with voice vote. Interestingly, students entering Class-VII and above in central syllabus coming academic year will be spared from the rule mandating compulsory learning of the subject. Also, the qualifying marks for students studying the subject in non-Telugu medium schools is just 20 marks. They will also be introduced to the subject gradually, starting with alphabets; but state syllabus students will have regular textbooks.
“It is, however, to be noted that the subject will continue to be studied by the students in a ‘progressive’ manner. This means, a student entering first standard this academic year will continue to study Telugu language subject till Class-X. However, a student entering Class-II this year will start studying the subject only in Class-VI,” deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari told Express.
The Roadmap
Here’s how it will impact students in English medium (Private schools/ Central school with CBSE, ICSE, IB and Cambridge syllabus) and other medium schools (Government Aided and private schools of Telangana state with state syllabus)
i) At primary level (classes 1 to 5): Telugu will be introduced as compulsory subject in 2018-19 for standard-1 and every year it will be extended to further standards progressively
ii) At High School level (Classes 6
to 10): Telugu will be introduced as a compulsory subject in 2018-19 for standard-VI and every year, it will be extended to further standards