Hyderabad: An increasing number of students in rural areas and government schools in Telangana seem to prefer English medium over Telugu.
Over 1.5 lakh students have shifted to English medium this year, forcing the TS government to print about 12 lakh textbooks in English.
Official sources said that the total strength in English medium government schools has now risen to 2.5 lakh.
In Andhra Pradesh, the total strength in English medium government schools is around 4.2 lakh. Officials said that the craze for English, even in rural areas, was pushing up the enrollment.
Historically, Telangana has remained slightly more backward in terms of English education due to the insistence of Urdu medium from the time of the Nizams.
In Andhra Pradesh though, the swing towards English set in early owing to the presence of a large number of Christian missionary schools.
As per Andhra Pradesh government data, a third of the students in government schools are in English medium — about 4.20 lakh. In Telangana, the corresponding strength was low till now.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had emphasised that all government schools should be English medium, though the transition would take time.
The huge spike in enrollment this year is an encouraging sign. This is despite the drop in the number of government schools in the state compared to last year.
As per estimates, the number of government schools has dropped to about 60,000 from 70,000 this year.
“But English medium enrollment has gone up by 1.5 lakh. There is a craze for English in rural areas now. Because of this we have to print an additional 12 lakh English medium textbooks,” a senior official of the Telangana education ministry said.
