Govt failure to establish new ELLs affect rural students

HYDERABAD: The failure of collegiate education department to impart aural and oral skills in English language to students in government degree colleges has deprived thousands a chance to be globally acceptable.
Be it employment opportunities either at call centres or marketing firms, the chances of these students making it to the interview-level look grim because of the failure of the government to establish even one new English Language Lab (ELL) in the past two years.
The state government had launched the ambitious ELL programme in 2006 after several IT companies indicated that Andhra Pradesh, with its huge talent pool, would be their most preferred destination. Despite a budgetary allocation to start 75 ELLs in the state in 2009-10 and 50 ELLs in 2010-11, not a single lab could be established. Though there are 75 ELLs running in the state now, uncertainty dogs the fate of students in the remaining 125 odd government degree colleges across the state.
The government had announced that the ELL curriculum was designed to make the poor rural student globally acceptable. The software introduced in ELLs was designed to develop and strengthen communication skills (oral and aural) and analytical skills and also help students of first and second year degree to hone their communication, logical and aptitude capabilities. The aptitude lab is equipped with a vast 3,500 question bank and the career lab offers guidance and sense of direction to the student searching for bright career opportunities.
Collegiate education officials on condition of anonymity said, "How can we start new ELLs with budgetary constraints. We need at least Rs 8 crore to establish these as each lab would cost us a minimum of Rs 15 lakh. The budgetary allocation for 2011-12 is Rs 78 lakh and this amount will be sufficient to meet only the needs of the existing ELLs. Our achievement on establishing new ELLs over the past two financial years is nil."
The existing ELL curriculum is also helpful to students of Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs), where a 300-hour module has been evolved that imparts industry relevant training in communication skills, soft skills, analytical skills and computer skills.