HYDERABAD: Bilingual textbooks in English and Telugu languages are being printed for the students of class 2-10 in government schools for the next academic year. This, after the state government’s plan to introduce English medium under the ‘Mana Ooru Mana Badi’ scheme for over 26,000 government schools in the state. The preparation for these textbooks has been going on for the past eight months.
Sources from the school education department said this policy of issuing bilingual textbooks to students would most likely be continued for two years, however, it was not yet finalised. “As the students would be attending school in a proper manner after two years, it would be difficult for class 1 students to directly learn subjects in English, thus the government has so far planned to introduce bilingual textbooks for students of classes 2-10,” added sources.
Other than language textbooks, like English, Hindi and Telugu, other textbooks would be printed in English and Telugu Language. Bilingual textbooks would be printed for subjects such as E.V.S and Maths for primary sections. And from class 6 to 10, other subjects like social studies that include geography, history and science would also be printed in Bilingual format, apart from physics, chemistry and biology. Sources said these textbooks would have Telugu matter printed on one side and English on the other. The printing has begun, but after the complete approval by the government, the number of textbooks to be printed would be finalised.
It may be remembered that there would be no fee applicable even if students choose to study in English medium. They can also continue with Telugu medium, but according to headmasters of various government schools, they are expecting to see great inflow in admission starting next academic year. Many students shifted from private schools to government schools since Covid-19 began, and now with the introduction of the English medium, more parents were willing to send their children to government schools, they said.
The sources also mentioned that there would be one digital classroom in each government school, however, digitalisation depends upon the resources available in the government schools. Over Rs7,000 crore budget is being used for the facelift of these government schools which includes improving the infrastructure of schools. If the schools have a big classroom, it would be converted to a digital room with all equipment. However, those schools who do not have the capacity to build a digital room, will soon be provided with a solution by the education department.
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