Over 90 per cent prefer English medium in govt schools

Chennai: The craze for English medium in the state has affected government primary and middle schools with over 90 per cent of new students in class 1 got admitted in English medium sections.  

So far, many schools did not have a single admission in Tamil medium in this academic year.

To improve the dwindling strength of government primary and middle schools, the state government introduced English medium sections in 2012-13.

Since then the enrollment in government schools has picked up, but the admission to Tamil medium has started to come down.

As per admission records of a corporation middle school in Erode this year totally 67 students got admitted in class 1.

Of the 67, 60 are admitted in English medium and only seven students admitted in Tamil medium.

 “In the previous year, 26 students were studying in Tamil medium. But this year, the number has come down to 7,” a teacher from the school said.

“Our school’s strength has increased from 580 to 621 due to higher admissions in English medium,” he added.  

A panchayat union middle school in Villupuram district got 26 new admissions this year successfully enrolling all the kids who have completed age five in their area.

“All parents wanted to admit their kids at English medium. So, we have admitted students only in English medium,” a teacher from the school said.

He further said, “The school attracts more students due to various activities besides English medium. We are teaching the English with phonetics, involving the kids in activities like dance and quiz programmes.”

The middle school in Tiruppur district has improved its strength from 800 to 1,086 in three years. “Last year we had 25 students in Tamil medium. This year all the parents of 110 students wanted to enrol their kids only in English medium,” the school headmaster said.

“Many students from private schools are joining in our school due to the quality of teaching. Besides English, we also are teaching yoga, karate to our students,” she added.

More than three lakh students are studying in English medium in government primary and middle schools.

“How can a student learn in English when his mother tongue is not English?” asks educationist S.S. Rajagopalan.

“This trend will affect students as all the teachers in government schools are not equipped to teach in English medium. Everything will be memory based learning and we can see more dropouts in future,” he said.

He further said, “Instead of providing quality education to all the children, the government is trying to divert the people’s attention by starting English medium in government schools.”