Take steps to make Telugu compulsory, officials told

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari instructed Education Department officials to take steps to implement Telugu language as a compulsory subject from the ensuing academic year. Deputy Chief Minister chaired a review meeting held on the subject here on Monday. Srihari said implementation of Telugu language as a compulsory subject should not cause any inconvenience to the students. Instead, it should be made as an interesting one to study and to score marks in the examinations.

Members of the sub-committee on the implementation of Telugu and the senior officials from the Education Department briefed the Minister on the policies being implemented in Punjab, Delhi, and other States to promote mother tongue. Also, the way Telugu is made compulsory in the schools under central boards of secondary education.

Further, the officials said the books are being prepared in such a way that those who have not studied Telugu up to V standard can also easily study the language in their VI standard. Similar efforts are made to ensure that students can study Telugu without much trouble in VIII to the first year of intermediate course, they added.

Srihari also asked the officials to seek legal opinion on upgrading the services of the language pundits as promised by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during the World Telugu Congress held in Hyderabad. Special Chief Secretary Rajeev R Acharya, Director of School Education Kishan, Chairman of the sub-committee and Vice-Chancellor of the Telugu University Prof Satyanarayana and other senior officials were present in the meeting.