Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Assembly during a short duration discussion on ‘English Medium - its need - Naadu Nedu,’ on Thursday with Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu trading charges on the issue.
Mr. Naidu, referring to a news report published in Sakshi, said the Chief Minister and the YSR Congress Party were adopting “double standards” on the introduction of English in government schools from Classes 1 to 6. Mr. Jagan, who opposed EM schools while he was Opposition leader, changed his stance soon after coming to power.
The TDP government laid the foundation for English medium government schools in the State, he said.
The Telugu Desam Party would extend all possible cooperation to the government in implementing English medium, but the government should also give an option to parents to select the medium of instruction. The government should also focus on imparting training to teachers. Telugu should also be made compulsory, he said. Reacting swiftly, Mr. Jagan dared the Opposition leader to prove his allegations that he had opposed English medium schools when the TDP was in power. In fact, Mr. Naidu made a U-turn on English medium. The previous government had utterly failed to streamline and develop the schools. Sixty-six per cent of the government schools offered Telugu medium, and only 34% were in English medium. It was only to benefit corporate schools, he alleged.
‘Clear agenda’
The government was taking all necessary steps such as revision of curriculum, training to teaching staff and starting bridge courses to students at the primary level. Best of the people from all over the world would be engaged to draft the curriculum and key resource persons from prestigious institutions had been identified to train teachers in language proficiency selecting four teachers per mandal who will undergo training.
Naadu-Nedu would also bring about a change in the wider perspective with the improved infrastructure. In the first phase, 15,715 schools would be developed with an allocation of ₹ 3,000 crore, he added.
