The Commissioner, Collegiate Education, P. Bhaskara said that the students of the government degree colleges must be in a position to compete at the global level, for which English medium education would be helpful.
Addressing the teaching faculty of the government degree colleges in the district at a six-day training session that started on Monday at the Government College for Women (GCW) here, Mr. Bhaskara said that from this academic year, the medium of instruction has been changed to English. “Unless students understand subjects in English, they will not be able to access relevant information, much of which is available in that language,” he said.
He asked the faculty to create an environment where the students are able to develop communication skills in English. The faculty should upgrade their skills, in order to meet the needs of the changing world, he said.
Change in course pattern
“’As per the National Education Policy, the degree courses are being changed to a single major mode, where a student has to study one subject as major and another subject as minor. The major contains 15 papers in three years and the minor has six papers. In addition, the student has to study two languages, and skill enhancement and multi-discipline courses,” Mr. Bhaskara added.
The Collegiate Education Department earlier completed the training programme, aimed at helping the core subject lecturers improve proficiency and teaching skills in English, for two batches at the college, which is among the 18 nodal resource centres in the State.
More than 3,000 faculty members will be trained under the new initiative while plans are afoot to get the English faculty trained by English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU).
