VIJAYAWADA: The State government’s proposal to abolish first-language Telugu composite subjects from the current academic system has raised several concerns among students and private educational institutions.
Composite first language subjects are those where students learn one language as a major subject and another as a minor one. For example, if a student opts for Telugu as a composite subject, Sanskrit will be the minor subject. Similarly, Urdu/Hindi, Urdu/Persian, and Urdu/Arabic are some of the other composite language subjects, which the government plans to do away with.
Currently, in the case of the Telugu composite subject, Telugu as a major subject carries a weightage of 70 marks and Sanskrit carries 30. According to the government’s latest proposal, students will study either of the two subjects in a composite subject and will be assessed for a total of 100 marks for that subject. Additionally, the students will now be required to answer Sanskrit questions entirely in the Devanagari script during examinations.
Speaking to TNIE, Director of Government Examinations D Devananda Reddy made it clear that the new system would be implemented from the current academic year itself. “Telugu or Sanskrit examinations will be conducted for 100 marks from this year itself and students who have opted for Sanskrit should attempt the examination in Devanagari script,” he added.
Students, a worried lot
Several concerns were raised with regard to the proposal during discussions between Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana and government teachers’ unions. Students, too, are a worried lot as composite subjects are the ones easy to score, with most of the students securing 100% marks. According to sources, as many as five lakh students of Classes VI to X opted for composite Telugu in the current academic year.
A total of 86,885 Class X students attempted the Telugu composite exam for the final exams in the academic year 2022-23. The numbers might be the same this year too, officials said. Meanwhile, various stakeholders have urged the government to implement the system in the next academic year. Representatives of the Government Sanskrit Teachers’ Association met in Eluru last month and expressed that the sudden change would be challenging for students.
A Sanskrit teacher from Veeravasaram Ch Phani Kumar pointed out that the proposal would be implemented in the middle of the year after the formative assessment-1 exam (FA-1) was completed, and students preparing for FA2. “Additionally, current textbooks of the Sanskrit language are designed for 50 marks paper and will require revision to align with the proposed change,” he explained.
However, he expressed that answering Sanskrit questions in Devanagari script, instead of other languages like Telugu, Hindi, or English, could potentially enhance the student’s proficiency in the language.
President of the Teachers’ Union of Andhra Pradesh (STUAP) L Sai Srinivas pointed out the government must fill all vacant positions for Sanskrit and Telugu teachers before implementing the proposal. President of AP Upadhyaya Sangam (APUS) Ch Shravan Kumar stressed that this year’s Class X students should follow the traditional format. President of AP Private Schools’ Association Komaragiri Chandrashekar requested the government to implement the new policy from the next academic year. However, he expressed that students will opt for Sanskrit in the new format as it is a scoring subject.
Telugu first
Teachers’ unions also opposed another proposal of the government to make Sanskrit the first language and Telugu the second language.APUS president argued that as the mother tongue of the majority of the students in the State, Telugu should remain the first language.“Sanskrit should be an optional subject for Hindi and not Telugu,” he suggested.
The Teachers’ Union said Telugu should be retained as the first language in line with the National Education Policy. However, the Director of Examinations asserted that Sanskrit would continue to be treated as a second language along with Hindi, and Telugu would be the first language.v