Andhra Pradesh - Nalgonda   

Non-minority students opt for Urdu here

— Photo: Singam Venkataramana

New chapter: A teacher teaching Urdu to the non-minority girl students from Telugu medium background at AP Residential English Medium School for Minority Students in Nalgonda on Monday. (Right) Students engrossed in a Urdu class.

NALGONDA: Thanks to a unique learning opportunity, the SC and ST girl students from Telugu medium background have been pursuing Urdu as their first language and learning multi-lingual skills at the AP Residential English medium School for Muslim Minority Girls in the town.

The residential school for minority girls was set up by the AP Residential Educational Institutions (APREI) Society in Nalgonda in 2008 to offer quality education from 5th to 12th standard in CBSE mode with English as medium of instruction to the poor Muslim minority girls.

The non-minority students of SC, ST and PH categories have been given 21 per cent share in the total seats in the school. This has enabled several poor SC and ST students from far off places of Nalgonda and Khammam districts join the institution and pursue studies in English medium free of cost.

Interestingly, almost all the non-minority students of both the 5th and 6th standard of the school have opted Urdu as their first language.

However, the original purpose behind the establishment of the residential school is not being fully met due to the less strength of Muslim girl students as against their share of 79 per cent in the total seats of the school. Many poor Muslim girls are unable to utilise the free education facility due to the factors like poverty and lack of awareness about the residential school. “The poor students of Muslim minorities, SC, ST and PH categories can study in the English medium residential school free of cost and get quality education of 21st century standards,” said school principal A Narsaiah.

“We have conducted a massive campaign by circulating pamphlets to create awareness of the school,” he said.

“I am studying Urdu as my first language and Hindi as my second language in the English medium and I would like to become a multi linguist,” said S. Saraswathi, a tribal girl of Devarakonda.

Learning Urdu, Hindi and English is an added advantage for the SC and ST students whose mother tongues are Telugu and Lambada, said Kousar Fathima, a teacher of the school.

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