KOCHI: English is a part of the curriculum, but most of the students studying in government schools fail miserably in conquering the language. But here’s the good news. The district panchayat is planning a project to help the students master the language. As a part of the project the district panchayat will conduct English speaking classes in schools from the next academic year.
“Though English has become a common language for communication in the district many people who hold top positions still struggle to speak it. The state stands in the forefront in education but we are much behind in being fluent in using the foreign language. It is disappointing to see that many capable candidates lose out in the interviews due to their inability to speak English fluently. With this project we aim to train the students and hence set them on a course to a bright future,” said Abdul Muthalib, district panchayat vice president.
The district panchayat has allocated Rs 5 lakh for the project called ‘Loka Bhasha Praveenyam’ which is expected to be launched by the next academic year. The district panchayat plans to implement the project in 53 higher secondary schools and 62 high schools.
“We are planning to conduct spoken English classes one day per week. In the one hour class, we will try to motivate the students to speak in English. The English teacher of the school will be assigned the task to conduct the classes. The teacher will be given a special remuneration, which will be provided by the district panchayat, for the classes,” said Abdul Muthalib.
The district panchayat decided to moot such a project after many parents shifted their wards to English medium schools. “Every year we are facing a drop in the number of students in government schools. When we investigated the matter, it came to light that these schools didn’t promote English. Hence, the parents shifted their kids to English medium schools. Since it’s not possible for the government to launch English medium schools, we decided to initiate steps to strengthen the teaching of the language to attract both the parents and the students,” said Asha Sanil, district panchayat president.