Defending the State government’s decision to make English medium compulsory across all government schools from the coming academic year, Education Minister A. Suresh on Tuesday said that the aim behind the move was to create a level-playing field for children from all sections of society.
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Speaking as part of a short discussion on ‘Telugu and English Medium’ in the Assembly Council, the Minister said that previous governments failed to address this key issue, thus giving room to the corporate sector to exploit the situation.
“We are only creating a level-playing platform. Times are changing and we need to equip our children with competitive skills that would take them places in the future. The government is doing only what parents had asked Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy during his padayatra,” Mr. Suresh said, adding that people were hailing the government’s decision.
Referring to allegations by Opposition members that English medium was being introduced in an unscientific way, he said that an elaborate plan was being chalked out to put the new system in place.
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The Minister emphasised that Telugu would not be neglected at any cost. “As part of the exercise to revamp the syllabus, we have discovered that Telugu textbooks have not been changed in the last 15 years,” he said.
The Minister said that it was essential to “catch the children young” as it would be easy for them to pick up English easily. He said that no other government had given importance to the education sector. Besides introducing reforms, the government had also constituted two regulatory and monitoring commissions to ensure a coherent and strong education system in the State, he said.
The Minister said from Right to Education, the State was aiming for Right to English Education now.