New Central policy puts YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's move in jeopardy

Amaravati: The New Education Policy announced by the Centre lays emphasis on medium of instruction should be mother tongue or regional language till class 5, preferably till class 8. This was announced at a press conference on Wednesday by Union HRD Ministry Nishank Pokhriyal.

This is bound to stir up a hornet's nest in Andhra Pradesh where the State government has introduced English medium from in primary schools itself triggering up a controversy. Even the Andhra Pradesh High Court set aside the government order saying that the choice must be left to the children.

But the government went ahead and filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against the order. It had also conducted surveys - twice - to seek parents' opinion on this count. The latter had defended the government's move.

The advent of the New Education Policy overhauling the education system raises a question on the fate of Jagan's move to introduce English medium in primary schools.

The government has already started training teachers to equip them with English language skills. Many teachers have been undergoing training to prepare for the switch to English medium. The syllabus has also been redesigned in view of the switch.

The English medium switch has been a much debated decision of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The government claimed that it would help the students from socio-economically backward classes in overcoming the challenges in the competitive world. However, many groups, including opposition parties, have claimed that the move will hurt the preservation of Telugu language. The government had earlier set aside a budget of Rs 12,000 crore for the switch to English medium in all government schools in the state.