Andhra Pradesh: Switching to CBSE mode to take time

Amaravati: The proposal to convert government schools to the CBSE system from class 1 to 7 has been put on hold. According to top officials of the Education department, this decision was taken as the government did not get the accreditation. It is learnt that the process of accreditation would take at least one year, and the process has just begun.

It may be recalled that the government wanted to bring classes 1 to 7 under CBSE and classes 8 to 10 over the subsequent three years, thereby completing the conversion process by 2024.

"We have just started discussion with the CBSE. Normally, they accept formal accreditation for classes 8-10 only," School Education Principal Secretary B Rajsekhar pointed out. He said they were now initiating the process for securing CBSE accreditation for class 8 for the 2022-23 academic year.

However, Rajsekhar did not specify whether the Telugu medium of instruction would be continued.

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's decision to switch over to the Central Board of Secondary Education is seen as a move by some groups to completely do away with the Telugu medium of education, at a time when the Supreme Court is in the process of adjudicating a litigation against the conversion of all government schools, from classes 1 to 6, to English medium. Under the CBSE, Telugu is only a subject taught and the curriculum will be in Hindi or English medium.

"There are different ways of getting affiliated to CBSE for classes 1-7. We are exploring a lot of other things related to CBSE accreditation, including how to encourage," officials said. On the concern over doing away with Telugu, Rajsekhar said they were discussing with CBSE how to ensure the State issues were not diluted. "We are discussing how to encourage Telugu without any problem, without losing focus and leveraging CBSE to include (Telugu) culture in the textbooks while affiliating with the CBSE.