English medium education in Anganwadis still a non-starter

Anantapur: The much talked about imparting English medium education to Anganwadi children under 17 Integrated Child Development Scheme(ICDS) projects in the district launched with fanfare 6 months ago, has failed to take off.

The English medium Nursery-UKG schools supposed to have been launched in July is facing teething problems. The project which is expected to benefit 1.48 lakh children in the age group of 3 to 7 years is still a non-starter due to multiple problems in the joint implementation by ICDS and the municipalities. The later did not bother as it is an ICDS baby.

The project's plan to condense 122 Anganwadi centres into 91 centres for the express purpose of running these English medium nursery schools hassle-free too is yet to happen. The authorities could not find buildings suitable for the English medium schools and none are willing to rent out the buildings for the government in view of fears that the government payments are inordinately delayed.

Under the new system, as many as 3 Anganwadi centres are to be integrated into 1 centre. The Anganwadi workers say they are likely to launch the schools only next academic year in 2018-19 as proper home work has not been done. 

Above all, there is no guarantee of imparting English medium instruction to the children as there are no teachers, who can speak English nor teach English language to them.

Even the so called English medium instruction to the students in government schools from upper primary level is also a farce as the government does not have English-speaking teachers. Even, English subject is taught in Telugu on the premise that the students cannot understand English.

The parents of Anganwadi centre children are disappointed that nothing has so far happened to realize the dream of their children speaking in English. The project was announced in a hurry promising English medium education but remained as a mere announcement.

Mothers of children Asha and Jyothi are hopeful that that they would see their children talking in English by the time they complete their primary grades. The parents of Anganwadi centre children are disappointed that nothing has so far happened to realize the dream of their children speaking in English.

The project was announced in a hurry promising English medium education but remained as a mere announcement. Mothers of children Asha and Jyothi are hopeful that that they would see their children talking in English by the time they complete their primary grades. 

By Ravi P Benjamin