Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday (April 30) fulfilled his promise that he made ahead of Assembly election and decided to introduce English as a medium of education in the state's government schools. Telugu, however, will remain the compulsory language subject.
The Andhra Chief Minister has stated that this move will help children of his state become competitive and make them stand on par with others globally as they grow up.
The opposition Telugu Desam Party, however, vehemently opposed the state government's move invoking "Telugu Pride".
The ruling YSRCP government also conducted a survey as to how many percentage of parents prefer English as a medium of subjects and teaching in schools. As per the survey, about 96.17 per cent of parents extended support to the government's decision to introduce English as a medium of teaching at the primary level.
"Earlier, the government had taken this decision to make every child in the state capable to meet global standards. The YSRCP government is keen on providing quality education for every child in the state and equip them with world-class knowledge," said an education department official.
"In this context, the prestigious "Nadu-Nedu' programme was being utilized in schools by providing infrastructure facilities," he added.
The state government collected written opinions from parents of class 1 to 5 students from the village level through volunteers.
The YSRCP government also formed a special format with three options to know their opinion:
1. English as the medium of instruction while Telugu as a mandatory subject
2. Telugu medium
3. Other languages
As on April 29, of the 17,87,035 parents of the students from class I to V, about 17,85,669 have shown their interest and opted for the first option. About 3.05% have chosen the second and 0.78% the third option voluntarily.
