AP govt criticised for neglecting Telugu

Vijayawada: CPM state secretary V Srinivasa Rao criticised the state government for neglecting the mother tongue Telugu ever since it came to power. He alleged that the government has relegated Telugu to backseat after introducing English medium in schools because of which students were not in a position to write and speak their mother tongue Telugu.

The CPM secretary wrote a letter to the Chief Minister on Monday demanding it to accord priority to the mother tongue. Reminding that International Mother Language Day is celebrated worldwide on February 21he said UNESCO gave a theme 'Multilingual Education-A Necessity to Transform Education' this year to the day this year.

Maintaining that it is the responsibility of the state government to celebrate Mother Language Day in a grand manner, Srinviasa Rao said the state government has not taken any initiative or made any announcements marking the day.

The CPM leader pointed out that many countries in the world such as US, Spain, China, Japan, Korea, Germany and Russia educate their children in their mother tongues. Stressing that primary education should be in the mother tongue, he urged the government to give an opportunity to anyone who liked to excel in mother tongue. He made it clear that the forcible imposition of English was not good for the state. He further recalled that the UGC had written to the state Governor to make textbooks available in mother tongue.