While Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday made a promise that the State government would correct the budget announcement and ensure that English is taught as a language and not used as medium of instruction, Primary and Secondary Education Minister N. Mahesh appears keen to stick with the budgetary promise in letter and spirit.
In a chat with The Hindu , he said he was for opening English-medium sections in 1,000 government schools on an experimental basis to attract more students. Excerpts:
The State government’s plan on opening English-medium sections in government primary schools has received a lot of criticism. Your thoughts on this?
We want to teach English as a language in all government schools. But we want to open one English-medium section in 1,000 government schools on a pilot basis. This is because government school enrolments are declining as private schools offer education in English. Take for instance a government school in my own village in Kollegal taluk. The school that had 200 students now has only around 40 as the parents, a majority of whom are daily wage labourers, want their children to study in English medium.
The decision of merging 28,847 government and aided schools with low admission rates with 8,530 nearby government schools too has faced criticism.
This point too needs to be clarified. We have identified 28,847 government and aided schools with low admissions. We will not merge all of them. Only around 8,000 of the total 28,847 schools will be merged with 8,530 government schools.
A delegation of writers, scholars, and academicians has threatened to stage a protest if English is used as medium of instruction. How will you deal with this issue?
There is no need for anyone to protest. I will meet all education experts and hold talks with them and clear their doubts. We will take all decisions democratically.
The previous Congress government had amended the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 to make mother tongue the medium of instruction in primary classes. This budget announcement reverses that effort.
I am not aware of the issue. I will study it and then comment.
