VIJAYAWADA: Extending their support to the State government’s decision to introduce English as the medium of instruction in government schools at the primary level from the 2020-21 academic year, 96.17 per cent of people whose children study in government schools have given their agreement in writing. This was done as part of a survey conducted by the State government.
In a bid to provide a better future to schoolchildren in the state, the government had started introducing reforms in the education sector. As part of these reforms, school infrastructure is being improved under the ‘Nadu-Nedu’ programme. Further, to help students meet global standards and compete in the global job arena, the State government decided to introduce English as the medium of instruction in schools. Explaining how the government conducted the survey, education minister Adimulapu Suresh said, “After the High Court said view of parents’ committees cannot be considered, we prepared a form with three columns — English medium, Telugu medium, and other media.
These forms were distributed to each parent by ward and village volunteers.” “We have planned to file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court,” he added, and went on to say that the government has started printing textbooks as per the new syllabus. Besides, teachers have been trained to teach in English and bridge courses have been conducted to help students with the transition, he asserted.
For the 2020-21 academic year, 17,87,035 students will be in Classes 1 to 5, and parents of 17,85,669 of them gave their preferences in the survey. While 96.17 per cent opted for English as the medium of instruction, 3.05 per cent picked Telugu and 0.78 per cent opted for other languages. The statistics are based on data collected till April 29. Commenting on the survey, Principal Secretary (Education) B Rajshekhar said, “We will now go ahead taking this survey into consideration. We are not yet at the stage of fighting the case in the Supreme Court, and will appeal again based on this survey.”
‘Book-printing has begun’
The govt has started printing textbooks as per the new syllabus, and teachers have been trained to teach in English, said education minister Adimulapu Suresh. Bridge courses were held to help students transition, he added
