The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed the Education Bill 1/1982 (Amendment Act)-2019, making English the medium of instruction in all the government schools with Telugu as a compulsory subject.
This was the second time the Assembly passed the Bill. In December 2019, the Bill was passed, but the Legislative Council suggested amendments such as – option may be given to the students or parents as to which medium (English or Telugu, or the mother tongue) the students intend to study; the attainment of prescribed standards of proficiency in the mother tongue, English and Hindi; the standards of education and courses of study in educational institutions, including instruction both in the mother tongue and English medium.
After a detailed discussion, the Assembly passed the Bill without agreeing to the amendments made by the Council.
Earlier, intervening in the discussion, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the Bill seeks to provide English medium education to the children who cannot afford to go to private schools due to exorbitant fee.
The Legislative Council, however, had rejected the Bill without realising that it could not do anything except play the role of a spectator if the Assembly decided to ratify the legislation whether or not the Council gave its nod, he observed.
The Council should have understood that the Bill was in the interest of the poor children and it was not intended to derive any political mileage.
“The Bill enables children belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Backward Classes (BCs) and other economically weaker sections that their chances of getting well-paid jobs are not marred because of lack of proficiency in English language,” he said.
Vidya Kanuka kits
The Chief Minister announced that kits containing text and notebooks and other stationery would be provided to all the 36.10 lakh primary school children on June 1 just before the commencement of the academic year as part of the Vidya Kanuka scheme for which ₹487 crore had been allocated.
He said there were over 45,000 government schools in the State, but less than 35% of them had English medium. On the other hand, 98.5% of private schools had that facility, he said.
