English Language in Government Schools

Students have a hard time communicating in English in Chintamani Taluk of Karnataka. “English an international language”, said Srikanth Reddy, a student of Government High School in Anoor, but learning English language is a problem to the students. Anoor is one of the 397 villages in Chintamani Taluk of Karnataka. Students in this taluk have an option to learn all subjects in English only from standard eight onwards. “Chintamani is educationally black, in rural side students have difficulty in learning English”, said Narayan Swamy, Principal of Anoor Government High School.

English language problem extends to the Chintamani town too where only four Government High Schools impart English education. 19 other Government high schools are located in rural side and only teach in Kannada. Around 8,000 students study in Government High Schools in this Taluk. Education Coordinator S. Apajireddy said, it divides the rural and urban people and emphasizes that lack of English education in the government schools are reflecting on the decreasing trend of admissions of around 10 percent every year. “Parents are not interested to send their children to government schools, all want private education because of English”, he said. English medium constitute only 32 percent of the students in Government Boys and Girls high School in Chintamani town. “This year our total strength is 1,152 students, only 400 studies in English”, said Subba Reddy, Principal of Government Girls High School.

Teaching them is one of the biggest challenges faced by the teachers. “Most of the children are aware of the alphabets only in the eighth standard”, said Jecintha G, English teacher. She also said that teachers should not be blamed on the failure of students to learn the language as not much importance is given at the primary level. There are more than 400 Lower and Primary High schools in Chintamani Taluk, students are taught in Kannada and have one subject as English Language introduced from 5th standard. This does not help the teachers in High Schools. “We are so confused on what to teach, should we teach them grammar or finish the portions or how to speak”, said Jecintha. Lack of qualified teachers is also another problem school face in this area. Mr. S. Janardhan, Principal of Government Boys High School said we only have 12 permanent faculties for around 1,400 students. Lack of English language in High school level extends to the Pre University Level too. Arts and Commerce sections are taught in Kannada in Government Boys and Girls High school in Chintamani Town. Teachers say students don’t want to opt for English as they don’t understand the medium properly.

Importance of English language to establish a career is understood by Government and society too. Government wants to expand the base of English Language students. “We are taking actions, different schemes like free mid day meals, free text books, free education are introduced”, said Manjunath K, Block Education Officer. The current steps taken by the government may attract students to join the school, but lot of work needs to be done to create a balance between English and the regional language.