The Andhra Pradesh government has taken parents’ vote for a second time, after the High Court set aside a government order making English medium compulsory in all government schools. Andhra Minister for Education Adimulapu Suresh said on Thursday that 96.17% of parents have shown a preference for English as the medium education for their children.
Parents’ opinion was already gathered through parents’ committees from around 43,000 schools earlier in January. The parents’ committees’ opinion was invited after the HC objected to the switch to English medium earlier in December. With petitioners arguing that imposing a medium of instruction without the consent of students and their parents violates the RTE (Right to Education Act), the court had asked the government to file a counter-affidavit.
The Education Minister had previously said that the parents’ committees from 43,000 schools had shown support for English medium. However, the HC said that the parents’ committees’ views cannot be considered, and struck down the government orders allowing implementation of English as the sole medium of instruction for classes 1 to 6.
The government has collected the opinions of parents by sending village and ward volunteers to their doorstep. Parents of students in classes 1 to 5 were asked to choose one of three options on a form — English as the medium of instruction with Telugu being a mandatory subject, Telugu medium, or a different language.
According to an official statement, as of April 29, about 17,87,035 parents’ votes were gathered across the state. While nearly 96% of the parents chose English medium, about 3% chose Telugu medium, and about 0.78 % parents wanted a language other than Telugu or English to be the medium of instruction.
Adimulapu Suresh also told Sakshi TV that teachers are continuing their training programs remotely, through a mobile app, during the lockdown. Many teachers had been undergoing training to prepare for the switch to English medium in the coming academic year. The syllabus has also been redesigned in view of the switch.
However, with the HC striking down the orders pertaining to the switch, the Education Minister reportedly said that the government plans to file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, according to The New Indian Express.
Textbooks for classes 7 to 10 have already been printed and sent to district headquarters, Adimulapu Suresh said.
The English medium switch has been a much debated decision of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The government has said that the move is important to make better opportunities accessible to children from socio-economically backward communities, and to create a more level playing field for children from private and government schools. However, many groups, including opposition parties, have claimed that the move will hurt the preservation of Telugu language.
The government had earlier set aside a budget of Rs 12,000 crore for the switch to English medium in all government schools in the state.