Telugu must subject up to SSC only

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has backed out on its earlier decision to introduce Telugu as compulsory subject up to the level of Intermediate course. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday instructed the officials to take measures to introduce Telugu as a compulsory subject to be taught in all private and government schools with effect from 2018-19 academic year. 

The Chief Minister felt that since implementation of Telugu as compulsory subject up to Intermediate course is not possible at this stage, for the time being, it is being restricted to SSC level.

At a meeting with the officials, KCR said that to implement this policy even up to SSC, a legislation has to be brought forth in the ongoing budget session of the Assembly. He discussed the guidelines to be framed for teaching Telugu as a subject in the schools.

After recommendations of a team of officials which studied how Tamil Nadu and Punjab had introduced their respective mother tongues in educational institutions, the Chief Minister decided that Telugu be taught only up to SSC. He asked the Telugu Sahitya Academy and Telugu University to prepare class-wise syllabus for Telugu upto SSC.

“The course content should rouse patriotism and help the students imbibe ethical values,” KCR said and instructed the officials from the Education department to ensure that at least one Telugu Pandit is appointed in each private school. State Education Minister K Srihari and other officials were present in the meeting.