No TS state policy yet on English medium 

Teachers, parents show the way

Hyderabad: Over 500 schools in Telangana are running parallel or exclusive English medium sections in the schools across the State as enthusiastic teachers took up the initiative.

Even as the government is yet to take a policy decision to introduce English medium in primary and upper primary schools, elected representatives and school management committees in several villages have come forward to run English medium sections. About 3,000 high schools are already running parallel English medium sections without any exclusive recruitment of teachers to handle the English medium sections.

Teachers of primary and upper primary schools in several villages came forward to open English medium schools in a bid to protect the government-run schools as the strength sharply dwindled. According to an estimate, the enrolment in private schools has marginally surpassed total enrolment in government Zilla Parishad, Mandal Parishad schools in Telangana.

Many schools have even reported zero strength forcing the authorities to rationalise the staff. Studies revealed that people’s urge to educate their children in English medium is the primary reason for the enrolment of their wards in private schools despite State spending massive resources on government schools which have more qualified teachers too.

The classic example is that of Ontimamidipally village school in Wardhannapet mandal of Warangal district. The government school in this village has been closed for more than four years as the parents preferred to educate their children in private schools that offer English medium. The villagers were almost spending Rs 30 to 40 lakh a year on fees for private schools despite the village having a government school.

The villagers with the support of elected local representatives took an initiative and reopened the school in 2014. Minister for Education Kadiyam Srihari was approached for sanction of teachers. The government posted eight teachers. The School Management Committee (SMC) appointed five more teachers who are paid salaries by the villagers 'with their own contributions’.

M Rama Devi, HM of the school, told The Hans India that the school now has an enrolment of about 350 students and the strength is expected to increase by another 100 soon. This Mandal Parishad Upper Primary School is running even nursery classes though the government school system does not offer any nursery classes.

The Yellareddypet mandal in Karimnagar district perhaps leads the State in number of schools offering English medium sections at primary or upper primary stages, says B Raju, a teacher in Akkapally village of the same mandal. The local teachers told The Hans India that the MEO in this mandal took the initiative at the behest of the local MLA and IT Minister K T Rama Rao and introduced English medium in many schools.

The Akkapally school opened English medium in 2011. The school now has 150 students though the village population is just 1400. No child in this village goes to private school, said B Raju.

The District Educational Officer (DEO) of Medak district told The Hans India that there are as many as 100 schools offering education only in English medium. The school in Vellanki village in Ramannapet mandal of Nalgonda district had only 88 students in 2010 when there was only Telugu medium. The strength was fast dwindling.

But, the strength has now increased to 150 after shifting to English medium, said Rama Rao, a local teacher. There are instances of even villagers swearing not to send their children to private schools to strengthen the village government school. One such village is Pendapally in Bhainsa mandal of Adilabad where English medium is a parallel section.

N Narayana, general secretary of the Telangana People’s Education Reforms Movement (TPERM) urged the government to come out with a policy to start parallel English medium sections and recruit exclusive teachers in view of the growing urge among even poor parents. Meanwhile, the Director of School Education issued instructions to all DEOs to submit a list of such schools where English medium sections are already running for providing facilities.

Yet, the State government has no policy on starting English medium sections either exclusive or parallel in government-run primary and upper primary schools. All these schools have been running English medium sections without prior permission. As per rules 6, 7 and 8 of G.O.MS. No. 524 of 1988 permission from competent authorities is compulsory.

The Director School Education earlier issued proceedings warning action against those schools starting English medium sections without prior permission. As these proceedings caused alarm, the authorities through a rejoinder clarified that no orders were issued to close down the existing English medium sections. However, the clarity still eludes regarding the government policy on English medium education creating undesirable confusion among teachers, students and parents.