Telangana: Love for English medium deals blow to Telugu

Hyderabad: Why did the State government decide to switch over from Telugu medium to English medium schools? Is it only to facilitate the students to become more empowered to get better jobs? If so, why did it not think of converting Urdu medium schools also into English medium schools? The rate of unemployment among Muslim minorities is also very high.

Experts feel that by converting Telugu medium schools into English medium and ignoring Urdu medium schools, the government had done injustice to both the languages.

It may be mentioned here that State Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy had announced in the Assembly that Mana Vuru- Mana Badi is meant to improve the school infrastructure on par with private corporate schools. Secondly, the Cabinet sub-committee has also recommended the introduction of English medium from Class I to VIII from 2022-23 academic year, and the same for Class IX from 2023-24 and Class X from 2024-25.

The State government has reportedly taken the decision based on the mood of the parents. She said they wanted their wards to get educated in English medium as it would make them competitive nationally and globally in their careers. Speaking to The Hans India, a ruling party MLA said that as far as he knows, the Education department did not circulate any background paper, any statistical and research report in support of the decision to convert Telugu medium schools into English medium.

Opposition Congress too did not seek any justification for this move from the government nor did it discuss the consequences in the long run.

Interestingly, it was only the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA which is now playing the role of sort of main Opposition led by Akbaruddin Owaisi, who said the government had failed in doing justice to Urdu language.

Participating in the demands on Education, he asked, what was the point in according second official status to the Urdu language? The government he said was trying to close the Urdu medium schools and colleges by not appointing teaching faculty.

He also demanded the government to conduct all the competitive examinations in Urdu, including EAMCET and others. He reasoned that depriving students who wanted to study in their mother tongue (Urdu) is not just and demanded justice to the Urdu language. The Education Minister responded saying that the government has no intention to close Urdu medium. This has kicked off a discussion among experts in education who want to know how the government have different yardsticks for different languages when it comes to education.

It is surprising that when it comes to the Telugu language, Telugu medium and its future, both the ruling and Opposition parties were found on the same page- neither asking any questions nor seeking any clarifications from the State government.