VIJAYAWADA: It's a case of
confusion confounded
. While the din over the 1,900-odd municipal schools
switching over to English medium
(EM) refuses to die down, enrolment of students for the coming academic year 201718 has taken a beating.
Municipal school teachers and education department officials, who are actively involved in the '
Badi Baata
' aimed at bolstering enrolment and bringing down the drop-out rate, are in a dilemma as they are unable to clear the doubts of parents on the medium of instruction. “Some parents are urging us to introduce EM sections in schools without going for a total switchover,“ said a teacher.
Municipal administration minister P
Narayana says the government has conducted elaborate meetings with various teachers' unions and educationists on the feasibility of switching over to EM and gone ahead by issuing the relevant GO.Disputing this, representatives of United Teachers' Front (UTF) allege that the government had taken a unilateral decision.
In fact, following opposition from teachers who claimed that it would not be possible to teach students in English in the middle of the academic year, the govern ment held back an earlier GO. In GO No 14, it was clearly mentioned that students from Classes I to X are going to study in EM irrespective of the student-teacher ratio. “If the GO comes into force, all the 1,900 municipal schools will turn EM institutions with the existing academic staff teaching lessons in English language. The decision will virtually kill the promotion of Telugu, the mother tongue of a majority students,“pointed out MLC Boddu Nageswara Rao.
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