On a day when the World Telugu Conference got underway in Tirupati, City Express caught up with teachers in both private and public schools in the twin cities to find out the minimum that is expected of a native student _____can our boys and girls read and write in Telugu? Do they know the alphabet? Unfortunately, or perhaps expectedly, the answer is a resounding NO.
If you thought this is bad, you have not read the worst yet. Telugu is being taught in English! “Children are in a state of confusion. Parents keep complaining about marks and insist on speaking in English. It is a matter of pride for them if children speak in English. The situation is such that Telugu teachers are forced to teach Telugu in English!,” says Sangeetha Varma, principal, Richmond High School, Kamalapuri, Jubilee Hills. She is convinced that learning Telugu is next to impossible for kids without the support of parents.
“Unless you practice the basics, you tend to forget. And in 6th or 7th class, you cannot expect the student to go back and learn the basics,” she points out and which according to her is the major problem students face in mastering Telugu. “Language teachers complain that students show no interest. The whole focus is on marks. There is hardly any family support and the respect for language has to come from the family,” she adds.
GVRS Murthy, a senior Telugu Pandit and teacher at the Oakridge International School, on the other hand, complains of deteriorating quality of Telugu teachers. “We do not have quality teachers to teach Telugu these days. Even a BA graduate with no pandit training can become a government school teacher now,” he points out. “The government had replaced the earlier five-year Basha Prerna -- which had four Telugu papers including prabandha, grammar, special poetry and Sanskrit, with the five-year Oriental BA which dropped two Telugu papers and introduced Social Studies and English!! Naturally, the quality goes down!” he reasons.
Telugu teachers in government schools too see no hope for Telugu. According to them, the multi-linguistic nature of the city is harming the language. “Telugu here is a mix of Urdu, Hindi and English. Students are not able to speak fluently and write well. Encouraging students to speak in English in private schools is also spoiling the native language,” believes N Venkatalakshmi, Telugu teacher at the Government High School, Dharam Karam Road, Ameerpet. Her colleague G Deborah felt the language would survive only if it is treated with love like in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. “Good old moral stories too are not part of the syllabus anymore,” she regrets.
Srinivas Rao, principal, Kanya Gurukul High School, Ameerpet, felt that revival of Telugu should start from individual schools. “Telugu should be made compulsory first language in private schools and also at intermediate levels,” he opines. Asked about the problems students from Telugu medium face when they go for higher studies, he replies, “subject knowledge and clarity is important and the medium of communication is secondary. Learning basic concepts in mother tongue will remain with a person till death.” J Kusuma, a teacher, also observes that Telugu language is being ignored by a lot of students who aspire to go abroad. “A lot of students from Andhra Pradesh go to the US for engineering etc. Telugu is not important for them,” she says. K Yadaiah, head master, Government High School, Vengal Rao Nagar, asks why the State government has waited for so long to revive the language? “All governments are trying to promote their language. Everything here from government job to a corporate job requires English proficiency and Telugu is given least importance,” he laments, adding that in this scenario who wants to learn Telugu.