Thanks to urbanisation and the craze for English medium education, the State government is planning to convert all the Telugu medium schools running in the private sector into English medium schools from the academic year 2016-17 onwards.
Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA) State general secretary Y. Shekhar Rao told The Hindu on Saturday that the government was preparing the norms for conversion of all private Telugu medium schools into English medium schools in the State. “The decision was taken following our pleas for the same ,” he added.
Stating that the State government itself was encouraging English medium education in the government sector by starting success schools and model schools, he hailed the State government’s decision to convert all Telugu medium schools into English medium schools in the private sector also.
There are around 800 private Telugu medium schools in the State including 250 in Karimnagar district, he said, adding that initially there would be problems for the change in syllabus and conduct of CCE model of examinations. “But, we are confident of coping with the situation by converting into English medium schools,” he said. Mr. Shekhar Rao also reminded that there are no private Telugu medium schools in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. Telangana Rashtra Teachers Federation (TRTF) district president M. Prathap Reddy said that the conversion of Telugu medium schools into English medium schools in private sector would distance the students from learning in their own mother tongue, Telugu. Already, only few government schools are offering Telugu medium education in the urban areas.
The decision to convert the Telugu medium schools into English medium schools in the private sector deal a further blow to the promotion of Telugu language, he maintained. He appealed to the State government to rethink about its decision by seeking the opinion of experts.
