The YSRCP government seems to have not learnt any lesson from its past mistakes and continues to be in a defiant mode despite several adverse court verdicts against its policy decisions.
In a display of sheer defiance, education minister Adimulapu Suresh stated that the Jagan government was firm on its policy decision to implement English medium instruction in government schools at primary level.
Making a frontal attack against the Union Cabinet’s directive to impart primary education in mother tongue in all government schools across the country, the education minister said “In the guise of New Education Policy, attempts were being made to scuttle the Andhra Pradesh government’s move to implement English medium in government schools at primary level. As per the central government policy, the new education policy should also be implemented in private and corporate schools. It is wrong to mislead people. I don’t want to say more since the matter is currently pending in the Supreme Court,” Suresh noted.
He also reminded that the Andhra Pradesh government carried out a survey and that a whopping 97 per cent of parents whose children study in government schools in Andhra Pradesh favoured English medium.
“Parents in Chandrababu Naidu’s constituency also favoured English medium education,” he pointed out. Further, the education minister claimed that the state government has already started implementing several reforms in line with the New Education Policy.
‘Been There, Done That’
“Our Chief Minister also gave several suggestions and advice when the central government was preparing a draft education policy. Jagan’s vision for educationational reforms mirrors in the new education policy. The Andhra Pradesh government is the first state in the country to change the name of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) to the Ministry of Education long before the NEP guidelines were issued. The central government has changed the name now, much after we did. We were the first to change Anganwadis to primary schools, we were the first to introduce digital education, coding and computer education for children of Class VI to Class VIII. Now, the central government is following the same policy,”
The education minister’s comments come in the wake of the New Education Policy of the central government that had recommended that mother tongue be the medium of instruction in primary education in government schools up to Class V which can be extended to Class VIII.
Around 17,87,040 students will be in Classes 1 to 5 for the 2020-21 academic year. In the past, Adimulapu Suresh admitted that the government had
already started printing textbooks as per the new syllabus, and that teachers were trained to teach in English.
Pat for Pawan Kalyan
While the state education minister claimed that the central government took the views of the Jagan government in formulating the NEP, Union cabinet minister Dr. Ramesh Nishank had appreciated appreciated Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan stating that his views on education reforms were incorporated while formulating the ew policy.
Legal Roadblock
The AP government’s move to implement English medium in government schools hit a legal roadblock after the High Court struck down G.O. Ms No.85 which made English medium education compulsory from classes I to VI in primary, upper primary and high schools under all managements from 2020-21.
However, the government had filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the HC verdict on its plan to introduce English as medium of instruction from classes I to Class VI in government schools.
Political storm
The move also snowballed into a major political controversy with all leaders cutting across parties, including TDP, BJP and Jana Sena Party have slammed the Jagan government over the issue.
YSRCP’s own leader and Lok Sabha MP Raghurama Krishna Raju was highly critical of the move to implement English medium in government schools and sought the central government’s intervention in ensuring education in mother tongue in primary classes.
As a matter of fact, he had raised the issue in Parliament seeking protection of Telugu language. Jagan took a serious view as this flew in the face of his government’s decision to introduce English medium in government schools for classes I to VI.
