Telangana government to introduce English medium in more schools
HYDERABAD: A day after making Telugu a compulsory subject in school education, the state government on Sunday announced that it would introduce English medium in more government schools from the coming academic year in order to increase enrolment of students in state-run educational institutions. “Because of lack of English-medium education and pre-primary education in government schools, students’ enrolment has come down in these schools.
Therefore, the government has decided to impart education in English medium in more schools without compromising on the importance of the Telugu language. We are also planning to start LKG and UKG classes in government schools by setting up Anganwadi centres on the premises of existing schools,” deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari informed the State Legislative Council on Sunday.
According to him, 27,92,000 students during the academic year 2015-16, 28,33,000 in 2016-17 and 27,61,000 in 2017-18 enrolled themselves with government schools across the state. It was observed that lack of English medium and pre-primary education facility had led to a fall in student enrolment in government schools in the academic year 2017-18.
While replying to a question raised by members in the Upper House of state legislature, Srihari said that government was planning to introduce pre-primary education in Anganwadi centres, which are aimed at providing nutritious food to children. “In fact, we want to bring in convergence in primary education and Anganwadi centres by starting pre-primary classes like nursery, LKG and UKG at such centres in order to achieve the twin aim of increasing the enrolment of students and providing nutritious diet to them,” he said.
“At present, 11,800 Anganwadi centres are being run at various government schools across the state. As all these centres are located on the premises of state-run schools, the government is planning to run LKG and UKG classes for children at these centres, besides initiating measures to promote English-medium education,” he announced.
The deputy chief minister said further that the state government’s priority was to strengthen the infrastructure at government schools so as to make these institutions compete with corporate schools. In order to achieve this aim, the government would focus on implementing the ‘digital classroom’ concept, he added. Srihari further informed the House that the government would soon fill 8,792 vacant posts in various state-run schools in the state.