Writer Kancha Ilaiah, who came out in support of the State government’s move to replace Telugu with English as the medium of instruction in government primary schools, wondered why the “forces” opposing it are not calling for introduction of Telugu medium in all private schools.
Mr. Ilaiah was speaking at the seminar “Poor people-Government-English medium” organised in the city on Wednesday.
“All those who are opposing English medium will not be able to show their faces to people in future. It is a revolutionary move by the government for the Dalits, minorities, backward classes and financially weaker sections among the upper castes,” he said.
“To stop this, ‘intellectual groups,’ including those from the left wing and right wing are demanding a section for Telugu medium made available in all the government schools. But why aren’t these groups demanding the establishment of Telugu medium in every private school?
These groups think that their children would have to compete with children of SC/ ST and minority communities in jobs and career in the future and that is the reason why they want Telugu medium continued only in government schools,” Mr. Ialaiah said. “The Telangana government was advised not to have Telugu medium in the schools but it still went on to open Telugu medium sections. Now 90% of the students are in English medium. The seminar demands that there should be no Telugu medium as a Telugu subject or Urdu subject in the curriculum would be enough,” he said and appealed to the teachers’ unions to prepare themselves to teach English to the students.
“It is not difficult for the teachers who had pursued B.Ed to learn English and teach in English,” he said.
Plea to Pawan, Naidu
He appealed to Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan to stop opposing English medium if wants to become Chief Minister.
“He will not win even one seat in the next elections if he opposes English medium,” he said.
YSRCP leader Jupudi Prabhakar was also present.
