Ashok Kamath, district education officer
UDUPI: With the success of a few government schools adopting English as the medium of instruction last year, more schools have shown interest for the academic year 2013-14 in Udupi district.
Five government schools out of 612 in the district opted for English medium education (for Classes 6, 7 and 8) for 2012-13. That number has increased to 51 for 2013-14. Ashok Kamath, district education officer, told TOI the condition enforced on those schools which want permission for English medium is that no additional teaching staff would be sought.
He added that this move has helped parents not be very particular about going in for private schools. The deputy director of public instruction has sent a letter to the director of public instruction department in Bangalore to give permission to those schools and a reply is expected within a month, he said.
Last year, government schools in Valakad, Hanumanth Nagar, Manooru, Brahmavara and Saibarakatte had adopted English as the medium of instruction and this year, there are proposals from 10 schools in Udupi block, 13 schools in Karkala block, 26 schools in Byndoor block and two schools in Kundapur block. In these schools, the school development management committees decided to adopt English-medium education as parents were keen their children get command over the language as it would stand them in good stead in future.
M Padmavathi, headmistress, Government Model Higher Primary School, Volakad (South), told TOI there are 40 students enrolled for Class 6 in English-medium education it was the students’ decision to opt for it.
She added that during admission, no pressure from parents to choose the English medium for their children will be entertained as it could affect the child’s spirit. She said if the kids could learn the concepts quickly, they would not find any trouble studying in the English medium.
