In a blow to Jagan-led Andhra Pradesh government, the High Court on Wednesday struck down the GO 81,85 to make English the compulsory medium of instruction in all government schools.

A petition was filed by BJP leader Sudish Rambhotla and Guntupalli Srinivas questioning the state government over the legality of the move to make English medium mandatory. The decision to make English medium instruction mandatory had stirred a hornet’s nest in Andhra Pradesh with some arguing that such a move will hurt the Telugu language while Dalit groups contended such a move will give equal access to English medium education to children from socio-economically disadvantaged communities.

Despite the criticism and opposition, the Jagan led AP government had issued a GO making English medium compulsory from class 1 to 8 in all government schools from the academic year 2020-21. After continued opposition, the government announced that only classes 1 to 6 would be converted to English medium in the first phase, adding one class to English medium in each subsequent year. The government even conducted a survey among parents who were asked to fill in form to choose between ‘English medium with Telugu as a compulsory subject’ or ‘Telugu medium.’

The petitioners Sudish Rambhotla and Guntupalli Srinivas argued that the move was a violation of the RTE Act and that children and parents must have the right to select their medium of instruction and cannot not be imposed by the state government while the AG contended that making English medium compulsory will help in the future of the children and also give equal access to English medium education less privileged children.

Hearing both the sides, the High Court scrapped the GO to make English the compulsory medium of instruction in all government schools.

This is the latest blow to the state government. In the past, the High Court pulled up the State DGP for arresting TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for arresting him under Section 144 CrPc at the Vizag airport. In a slap to DGP Gautam Sawang, the court even read out provisions of the Section 144 CrPc and asked him under what circumstances was TDP president arrested.