Telangana may offer English & Telugu medium instruction in government schools

HYDERABAD: Unlike the Andhra Pradesh government which made English medium compulsory in all government schools right from primary classes, the Telangana government is likely to offer both English and Telugu mediums parallelly in government schools from the academic year 2022-23.
A senior official from the school education department said that the state is not looking to replace Telugu medium schools with English medium ones.In the state, English medium is already being offered in about 3,000 government high schools and about 6,000 government upper primary and primary schools.

“It is likely that both Telugu and English medium will be run parallelly in the state. It is up to parents to decide in which medium they want to continue their child’s education,” said an official, adding that about 40% of schools are already offering both English and Telugu mediums.
There are 26, 065 government schools in the state in which about 20 lakh students are studying. However, about 65% of the total strength is concentrated in 9, 123 schools.
On Monday, The Telangana cabinet decided to introduce the English medium in all government schools in the state from the coming academic year. The decision was taken after seeing a substantial jump in enrolment of such students with that preference in the state in the past year, especially after the second wave of the pandemic. To prepare modalities a cabinet sub-committee, which will be headed by education minister P Sabita Indra Reddy, has been constituted.
“After the committee submits its report, the state will bring in a new Act to introduce English medium in the government schools from the coming academic year,” said the official. Even the government teachers said though the state has not made it clear whether Telugu medium will be discontinued or will run parallelly with English medium, it is most likely the state will continue with both. “We will get a clear picture once the sub-committee submits its report, but most probably both the mediums will continue,” said Chava Ravi,general secretary, Telangana State United Teachers Federation.