With barely two and a half weeks remaining for the academic year to begin, children across Karnataka are preparing to go back to school. But the government appears to be not fully ready to launch its ambitious project that will see the introduction of English as the language of instruction in 1,000 schools.
There has been a long delay in the Department of Public Instruction rolling out training programmes for teachers who will teach in English medium classes for the 2019-20 academic year.
The training should have started much earlier, but the District Institutes for Education and Training are kick-starting the programmes for primary school teachers only from Monday on how classes can be conducted in English medium.
S. Jayakumar, Director (Primary Education) of the department, said that 130 master resource persons have been trained at the Regional Institute of Education South India to teach in English subjects such as mathematics and environmental science. Besides, they will also teach English and Kannada as subjects.
The government also appears to have hit a roadblock in its training plans.
The teachers’ association has asked the department to postpone the training programme. Basavaraj Gurikar, president, Karnataka State Government Primary School Teachers’ Association, said they had told the department officials that teachers would not undergo training till the commencement of the academic year on May 27.
“Teachers have been busy working during the summer holidays for parliamentary elections, evaluating answer scripts, and implementing the midday meal programme. They have personal commitments as well and will attend training only after the academic year commences,” he said. Asked how teachers would teach in English without any training, he said that they had “basic knowledge”, which would suffice.
Parents, however, are worried about the quality of education. When English was introduced as a subject in class one from the 2014-15 academic year, the department had received several complaints about the quality of teaching. Subsequently, it introduced more in-depth training programmes for teachers.
Official list still not out
Although the department has tentatively short-listed 1,000 government schools where English medium will be taught from class one, it is yet to publish the official list.
These schools will have both Kannada- and English-medium sections. But parents are unaware of which schools will offer English-medium sections, and do not know where to apply.
The Karnataka Textbook Society is yet to place a work order for the English-medium textbooks. However, officials say that as it is a short-term tender, they hope that the textbooks will reach schools by the first week of June.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in his 2018-19 budget speech had stated that English would be taught as a medium of instruction. Despite opposition from Kannada writers and academics, the department was instructed to make preparations to roll out the project in 1,000 schools for the 2019-20 academic year.
